Living For Today
by speed killz
Summary: InuYasha is just a punk living for today, with no plans for the future. Can three girls who mean the world to him change him and make him care about more than just having fun?
1. Chapter 1

I'll Always Be Alone (Life Should Be Fun)

InuYasha snuck his cell phone out of his pocket and accessed his messages, for his cell phone had vibrated. He glanced at the teacher, and made sure that he wasn't being watched. He held his phone under the desk, out of the teachers line of sight. He read the message that he had recieved.

'Hey InuYasha! I heard that you were gonna jump off the top of the school today, after class. Please don't tell me it's true!'

InuYasha grinned, and rapidly keyed in a message, sending it as the teacher started over. He quickly slid his phone in his pocket, and straightened up. The teacher stopped by his desk, and picked up his work.

"Are you following the lesson, InuYasha?" The teacher asked, and InuYasha nodded. "Yes sir." He replied dutifully. The teacher stared at him for a moment longer, before dropping his notebook back on the desk. InuYasha waited until he walked away to the front of the room, before he let out a sigh. Just then, the bell rang, and InuYasha threw his books into his binder, glad to be free.

He jumped out of his desk, lugging his binder with him, streaking out of the classroom, and down the hallway. He raced to his locker, where Sango and Ayame were waiting for him already.

Sango, long, dark brown hair done up in a ponytail, greeted InuYasha first. She pushed off the row of lockers, and slid an arm around his waist, in a friendly hug. She was clad in a tight pair of jeans, and a clingy red t-shirt with a V-neck. She had light pink eyeliner on, and she grinned as InuYasha hugged her back. Ayame, on the other hand, stared at InuYasha, her bright green eyes giving nothing away. She wore a pair of black, grey and white camouflaged cargo pants low around her hips, revealing the tip of a tattoo that she had gotten some time ago. InuYasha had never seen the whole thing, nor did he know what it was. but he figured that if Ayame wanted him to know, then she would show him. She had a matching sleeveless top, and one of her ears were pierced with a diamond earing. She silently moved to the left a bit, allowing InuYasha to access his locker. InuYasha threw his binder in the bottom of his locker, and grabbed his skateboard out of his locker.

"I did as you asked, InuYasha." Ayame said, following InuYasha and Sango as they made their way to the front of the school.

"Now almost the whole school knows that you're gonna jump off the roof. Most of them will be there, expecting you to fall." She said. InuYasha grinned, and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks Ayame." He said. On the outside, she stayed emotionless, but inside, Ayame's body was on fire with the feelings she felt for the boy in front of her. She said nothing, and continued to follow them.

"InuYasha!!"

They turned, and spotted Kagome running toward them. They stopped, and waited up for her. She caught up to them, and ran in front of InuYasha, puting her hands on his chest.

"Please don't do it InuYasha, you'll get hurt!" She said. InuYasha laughed.

"Well, I promise I'll be careful." He said, starting to walk again. She pushed against his chest a bit harder, and put her head on his chest.

"InuYasha, please!!" She said. InuYasha sighed.  
"I already told you I was gonna do it, please move." He said. Kagome shook her head, and tightened her hold on his shirt. He sighed, and handed his skateboard to Sango. He gently pried her hands off his shirt, and pushed her away.

"Come on, don't worry so much." He said. "I'm just gonna have a bit of fun, that's all." He said. "I promise that nothing bad will happen." She hesitated, then sighed, and let him continue. She followed right behind him, knowing that she could never convince him to stop doing the stupid stuff he did.

InuYasha looked around for any teachers that might have noticed the bigger than usual crowd, and quickly climbed the series of ledges created by the windows. He reached the top, and looked down. He grinned at the seemingly far distance to the ground. He was almost thirty feet up, but this wasn't where he was gonna jump anyway. He ran across the roof, and quickly slid down the access ladder. He landed on the roof of the cafeteria, and was now only about twelve feet off the ground. He ran back to the edge, and the crowd immediately started to swarm around him. He leaned down, and told Sango to throw up his skateboard. It took a few tries, but she got it up high enough for him to grab it. He hauled it up, and sat down on the roof, the afternoon sun beating down on him. He quickly checked it over to make sure that it wasn't damaged, then stood up.

He backed up about twenty feet, and dropped his skateboard. He took a deep breath, and started skating for the edge, giving three powerful pushes before he placed his foot on the board. He saw the edge approaching, and at the last second, he kicked down on the tail of his skateboard, lifting the front end. He lifted his front foot, and let the board come up on him. He was now halfway over the edge of the school.

"Outta my way!" He yelled, kicking his front foot out and off the edge of the nose of the board. The board started to spin beneath him, and he started falling. The board stayed with him, and he saw the ground rushing up to him. He counted his spins, and saw the board complete it's second spin. He gauged his remaining distance against the speed of the spinning board, and figured that he could land it. He let the board spin one more time, before he kicked down, his feet landing on the screws, over his trucks. The board slammed onto the pavement and InuYasha let himself drop down, knees almost completely bent, to absorb the impact. He straightened up, and rode away, not hearing the yelling in his ears.

He put his foot down, and dragged his foot, coming to a stop. The huge crowd that had gathered to see him mess up, was now yelling because he had pulled off a kickflip from the roof of the school. He was surrounded by people, all yelling and trying to get his attention, but InuYasha ignored them, looking around for his friends. He spotted Kagome pushing her way through the crowd, and he waited until she reached him.

"See? Told ya I wouldn't get hurt." He said, grinning. She shook her head.

"I was so worried about you!" She said. InuYasha grinned.

"Don't waste your time." He said, turning to find Ayame and Sango. Behind him, Kagome bowed her head, his words resonating in her mind.

8 Days Later...

Sango jumped on InuYasha's bed, and laid down beside the boy. He was under the blankets, and she could hear him groan as his sleep was inturrupted. She giggled.

"Wakey wakey, InuYasha." She said, ripping back the covers and revealing the topless kid. She stretched out on top of him, his lower body still covered by the blankets, and she ran her fingers over his chest, feeling the ridge between his large chest muscles, her fingers dipping and rising over his rippled stomach.

"Hey InuYasha,' She said. "How old are you again?" She asked. InuYasha groaned again, and rubbed his eyes.

"Eighteen years, and nine months old." He said. Sango kissed his stomach, and nodded.

"Oh yeah, that's right." She said absentmindedly. She got off him, and let him get up. She sat on the edge of his bed, and watched him wake up. He sat up, and pushed his messy white hair out of his sleepy golden eyes. She had always loved his gold colored eyes, one of the many things she loved about him, actually. She moved off the bed as he threw off the covers, and got out of bed.

She watched his bum as he walked over to the closet, for he was wearing only a pair of shorts that came down to his knees. She laid back on his bed, and pulled the blankets up to her chin as she watched him walk around. She reveled in the body heat that was on the bed and the blankets, and she inhaled deeply, trying to catch his scent that was on the pillow. She watched him for a few more minutes in silence, before he spoke.

"How the hell did you get in here, anyway?" He asked, taking some clothes out of the closet.

"Your mom let me in, told me that you were upstairs in your room, probably still sleeping, and then she left." Sango said. InuYasha turned around to glance at her. Sango stared back at him, the blankets pulled up over her nose. She stared at InuYasha and noticed that the button to his shorts was undone, and the zipper was partly down. She smirked at him, but InuYasha was unable to see her smirk, for the blanket was covering her mouth.

"Had fun last night, eh InuYasha?" She asked, earning a look of confusion from InuYasha.

"Whaddya mean?" He asked.

"You forgot to zipper your pants back up." She said. InuYasha looked down, and looked back at Sango.

"Wha...Oh, I get it." He said. "Naw, that's not what you think." He said. "Watch." He tried to zipper the pants up, and button them, but they were slightly too small, and wouldn't fit over his hips.

"See?" He asked.

Sango nodded.

"Mhmm, sure, I gotcha." She said, winking at him. He blushed lightly, and shook his head.

"You're dirty." He said, opening his door.

Sango laughed. "Deny it all you want,, InuYasha, I know what you were doing!" She said.

"Yeah, sure, I'm gonna take a shower, try not to get too excited, and put stains on my bed." He said, shutting the door behind him. Sango blushed, and said nothing. After a few minutes, she heard the water running down the hall, and she closed her eyes. The warmth of the blankets and the muted sound of the water eventually proved too much for her, and she fell asleep.

InuYasha dropped his dirty clothes in the laundry room, and walked upstairs. He grabbed two bottles of JOLT, and two caramilk bars. It would be their breakfast. He walked up the stairs and opened his door, finding Sango fast asleep on his bed. He smiled, and set the bars down, padding softly over to the side of the bed. He slowly pulled back the blankets and a small moan reached his ears. He slowly extended the bottle toward her, and placed it against her bare neck. Sango's eyes flew open, and she jumped up, yelping as the cold bottle shocked her out of her sleep.

"Holy Hell!!" She said, pushing the bottle away.

InuYasha laughed, and dropped the bottle in her lap. He opened his, and got up before she could hit him. He walked over to his dresser, and grabbed one of the chocolate bars, turning around quick and throwing it at her.

"Sango!!" He yelled, and she turned to look at him.

_Thunk!!_

"Wah!!" The chocolate bar caught her in the forehead, and she fell back onto the bed, laughing. InuYasha laughed too, and sat down, ripping the wrapper off of his, biting into it.

Sango sat up, and glanced at him.

"You dummy!" She said, shaking her head.

"What?" He asked, innocently.

"That's not the proper way to eat a caramilk bar, are you retarded?" She asked. InuYasha shrugged, confused.

"There's a proper way to eat a chocolate bar?" He asked. Sango shook her head again, her ponytail swinging around her shoulders.

"This isn't just chocolate, InuYasha." She said. "It's sex chocolate."

InuYasha's eyes widened at her words.

"What?"

Sango nodded. "Yup. You can't just bite into it." She said. "Here, let me show ya." She said, taking his bar from him. She slowly broke off a piece, and slid it into her mouth, licking at the caramel that had dripped onto her lower lip. She laid down, and moaned, closing her eyes, letting the chocolate melt in her mouth, slowly sliding her tongue around her lips, her mouth slightly open. InuYasha stared at her, wide eyed. Sango looked at him, and reached up, grabbing the front of his shirt, pulling him down on top of her.

"U-Umm, Sango, what're you do--" He was cut off as she kissed him, softly at first, her lips touching against his. InuYasha blushed, and Sango moaned. She took his hand, and placed it on her hip, before reaching up to stroke the side of his face. She deepened the kiss, gently sliding her tongue into his mouth. InuYasha could feel his face heating up, and he pulled away slowly.

"Sa-Sango..." He said, tasting the chocolate that was on her tongue. Sango laughed.

"That, InuYasha, is how you eat a chocolate bar."

She winked at him, and sat up, handing back his chocolate bar.

"Come on." She said, getting up. "Let's go get Ayame and Kagome."

InuYasha grinned and jumped up.

"Alright, let's go." He said, following her out of the room.

Ayame opened her door, and saw InuYasha, Sango and Kagome standing on her doorstep.

"Hey guys." She said, walking out into the bright sunlight. She shut the door behind her, and shielded her eyes from the bright sun. She yawned, and put her hands on her back, stretching. She was barefoot, and she had a pair of jeans on that came down around her ankles, with a white shirt that was unbuttoned. The long sleeves covered her arms, and her fingers were curled around the sleeves, giving her that innocent look. It was offset slightly by the fact that her bra was barely covered. It was pure white, but there wasn't much fabric to it, and it revealed a lot . She didn't miss the way InuYasha looked at her, but pretended she hadn't noticed.

"Wanna hang out today?" InuYasha asked, grinning at her. Ayame turned her cool, green eyed gaze on him, and stared at him.

"I don't know..." She said.

InuYasha shook his head, grinning.

"Aww, come on. I"m guaranteed to be doing something stupid, or risky." He said. Ayame let herself smile a bit.

"Okay." She said. "Let's go."

"We should go get something to eat first." Kagome said.

They all agreed, and they started walking toward the corner store down the street. Ayame was still barefoot, enjoying the warm pavement against her feet. They walked slowly, enjoying the summer morning, and talking to each other about what they were doing, and their interests, and where they wanted to do in life. InuYasha stayed silent the whole time, listening to their hopes and dreams.

"I really wanna finish school, and become a nurse," Kagome said, "I think that it would be a fun job, healing idiots like InuYasha that can't take care of their bodies."

InuYasha winced, and Ayame laughed.

Sango nodded.

"Good for you, Kagome." She said. "Stay in school then, keep trying hard." She said.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah! What do you want to do when you get outta school, Sango?" She asked.

Sango hummed.

"I'm not really sure, but I hope that I can get a job that doesn't make me sit behind a desk all day long, typing at a computer." She said. "I love physical work, so I might get a job that requires a bit of moderately heavy lifting, make my job interesting." She said. Kagome laughed.

"Yeah," She said, poking Sango's trim stomach. "You need a job that'll keep you in shape after you get out of school, think you'll miss Phys. ed?"

Sango nodded. "Yeah, once I'm outta school, I'll definitely miss it." She turned to Ayame, grinning at her.

"What about you, Ayame?" She asked, wondering about her soft-spoken, often silent friend of fourteen years.

Ayame blushed, but it went unnoticed, for it was light.

"Uh...I actually only have one dream." She said, and she got excited just thinking of it.

She glanced at InuYasha, and he noticed, turning slightly to look at her.

"Yeah Ayame, what do you want?" He asked, a slight grin on his face.

Ayame blushed again, this time it was noticed by Sango, but she said nothing.

_I know what I want alright..._ Ayame thought.

"Um, I want to m-OUCH!" She dropped to the ground, on her knees, clutching her right foot. InuYasha turned when he heard her yelp, and he quickly kneeled down in front of her, to see what was wrong with her.

"Hey, Ayame, are you alright?" He asked, worriedly. Ayame, tears in the corners of her eyes, nodded slowly.

"What happened?" He asked. Ayame bit her lip, and lifted her foot, slowly. InuYasha's eyes widened at the small puddle of blood that was on the pavement, and Sango grimaced.

"I think I stepped on a piece of glass." Ayame mumbled. InuYasha winced, knowing how painful it could be, and he gently took her foot in his hands, feeling her smooth skin beneath his fingers. Sango helped her sit down, and InuYasha sat down on the pavement, looking at the sole of her foot. He took a deep breath, and then looked at Ayame.

"I'm sorry, Ayame." He said, before ripping the piece of glass out of the bottom of her foot. Ayame gasped as his fingers touched the wound, then bit her lip to keep from screaming as the glass was yanked out of her foot.

"Shh, don't worry." InuYasha said softly. He reached into his pocket, and took out a small roll of bandage, and he ripped a piece off. He wrapped it tightly around her foot, and made sure that it wouldn't come undone. Ayame whimpered as the bandage pressed against the cut on her foot, but the pain slowly faded as she focussed on InuYasha. He put the roll of bandage away, and took both of her hands in his, gently pulling her up. He let her lean against him for a minute, until she regained her balance. She tried to take a step on the injured foot, but she shook her head, for she couldn't put pressure on it. InuYasha steadied her with his hands around her waist, and he grinned down at her. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, before turning around and kneeling down.

"Come on." He said. "I'll give you a piggy back ride." He said. He had kissed her, then turned around quickly, so he missed her blush. Ayame hesitated for a second, but only a second. She tentatively got onto his back, and put her hands on his shoulders. She gasped as he stood up quickly, and she tightened her grip on his shoulders a bit. She felt InuYasha's strong hands gripping her legs gently, and she relaxed, resting her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. She slid her hands over his shoulders to put her arms loosely around his neck.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, before the fateful question was asked:  
"Um, InuYasha, any reason as to why you just happened to have that roll of bandage in your pocket?" Kagome asked. InuYasha shrugged a bit.

"Meh, I don't know, it was probably in my pocket from yesterday, I cut my hand climbing that really tall electrical tower, you know the one by the power plant?"

Kagome shook her head, and Sango punched his shoulder, laughing. "Didja make it to the top?" She asked. InuYasha nodded. "Yeah, and lemme tell ya, that thing is high!" He said.

InuYasha, you're gonna end up killing yourself one of these days!" Kagome said. "What drives you to do these pointless and stupid stunts?" She asked. InuYasha shook his head.

"They might be pointless to you, Kagome, but to me, they're a source of fun. It's important to me to have fun. Where you guys wanna get jobs, and be doctors and stuff, I just wanna have fun, get a car, street race, the usual, then die young." He said simply. "I don't feel like I'm living if I ain't having fun, ya know?"

Kagome shook her head. "No, I don't know." She said. "There's more to living than having fun, InuYasha." She said. InuYasha sighed.

"Yeah, maybe there is, but I don't want any part of it." He said, tilting his head up to look at the sky.

"There's gotta be something out there that I can earn a living, and have fun too." He breathed, not knowing that the girl he was carrying was thinking about him.

Ayame felt the tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She clutched his shirt tighter in her hands.

_'Die young, InuYasha? What about my dream?'_


	2. Roller Coasters and Rape

Living For Today, Chapter 2.

InuYasha gently set Ayame down, and helped her balance on her foot. He asked what she wanted, and she said she just wanted something to drink, that she wasn't a big eater this early in the morning. She had regained her composure, and now stood with her good foot on the ground, supporting herself with the toes of her injured foot. She had buttoned up her shirt, and now waited, watching as InuYasha ordered her something to drink. He came back with a few other things, and handed her a tall glass of chocolate milk, helping her over to a seat. The group sat down, and started talking, their orders taking a few minutes to arrive.

InuYasha was engaged in conversation with Kagome and Sango, and Ayame was silent, thinking about what InuYasha had said on the way to the fast food place.

_InuYasha...I'll make sure that I never leave your side, you'll be with me forever..._ She thought, not ever wanting InuYasha to die.

Sango glanced at the girl across from her, sitting beside InuYasha, sipping on her chocolate milk. Sango noted that the expression of pain had faded from her face, and she was now staring at her glass of chocolate milk, occaisionally casting glances at InuYasha's profile. Sango smirked. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, it was completely obvious. Ayame was in love with InuYasha. Sango smiled at the thought, as the waitress set her tray down in front of her. She thanked the waitress, and hungrily tore into her burger, earning a grimace from Ayame.

"I would never be able to eat something like that this early in the morning." Ayame said. Sango laughed.

"Early? It's almost ten thirty." She said. "Another half hour, and this breakfast deal wouldn't be available." Ayame nodded.

"Yeah. Ten thirty is really early." She stated, moving a few inches toward InuYasha. Sango started to feel a bit jealous that Ayame was so close to InuYasha, and started cursing her, mentally.

Suddenly, a voice inside her spoke up.

_Oh, like the feelings she has are any different from yours. _Sango had to laugh at that one, and she got a few inquiring looks from her friends.

"Oh, nothing." She said, and they resumed their conversation.

Kagome took a sip of her pepsi, and wiped off her mouth with her napkin. She crumpled up her garbage, and stood up, to throw it out. As she walked by the table, she happened to glance down, and what she saw surprised her. Ayame had managed to get ahold of InuYasha's hand, and was gripping it tightly, beneath the table. She pretended she had seen nothing, and walked over to the garbage can, throwing her junk out. As she came back, she realized that Ayame was moving a bit faster than anyone had expected. She was now leaning right against him, _and_ holding his hand. Kagome sat down, and took comfort in the thought that maybe InuYasha was just letting her lean on him because she was hurt, and he felt sorry for her.

_A few hours later, about 12: 30._

InuYasha was in the process of trying to convince Kagome to get on the roller coaster with him. They were at an amusement park, about twenty minutes away from their house.

"Come on Kagome!" He pleaded, trying desperately to convince her to get on with him. Kagome shook her head, standing her ground.

"No!" She said. "I will not get on that dangerous thing, it doesn't look safe." InuYasha smirked.

"What in life is safe?" He asked. "You never ever gonna get your liscence, because you're afraid of getting in an accident?" He asked, goading her. "Afraid to cross the street, for you might get hit by a car? Might as well stay home and sit in a corner, dressed in protective gear." He said. "Oh, but you can't. You'd find a way for that to be dangerous." He said it all with a sly smile, so Kagome wasn't offended. But she was starting to crack, InuYasha could see, so he quickly changed tactics, before she steeled herself against his next attack.

"Come on." He said, trying one last time. "It isn't really that high, doesn't go fast, and..." He smiled, and slid up next to her, wrapping his hands around her hips. "..And I'll let you sit next to me, and hold on to me." He said. He could see her biting her lip, thinking about it. He grinned inwardly as he thought of a way to make sure she went on it.

"And if you don't go on it, Kagome, you know I'll try something stupid." He said. That did it. Sango laughed as Kagome's eyebrow twitched sporadically, and she glowered at him.

"Grr! InuYasha!" She said. Then she groaned. "Fiiiiiiine!" She said, taking his arm, and walking toward the roller coaster entrance.

"But I'm only going to make sure you don't try to jump out, or something." She said, not admitting that the deciding factor was that she got to sit with InuYasha.

InuYasha grinned happily, and paid the operator the required fee. He helped Kagome in, and jumped in beside her, locking the grab bar in front of him.

"Have a nice ride." The operator said, moving their coaster up. A few minutes later, all the coaster carts were filled, and the ride started, the roller coaster going around a moderate right turn, then up a steep hill, slowly. Kagome's grip on his hand got progressively tighter as they got progressively higher. When they reached the top, the coaster hesitated for a second, then plunged down the steep drop.

"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Kagome panted heavily after her long scream of fear, then inhaled deeply.

"WAHHHH--" She stopped screaming as InuYasha pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms tight around her, and pulling her against his chest. She blushed and looked up at him, seeing no trace of fear on his face. He was grinning slightly and wasn't even bothering to hold onto the grab bar. Suddenly, her stomach was thrown into her feet as the roller coaster went up a sharp incline. She waited until it was over...and waited...and waited. Then she realized that they were upside down. She felt her heart skip a beat, before they plunged down the other side of the loop, the air rushing against her face. She gripped InuYasha's hand even tighter, as they streaked even faster through a series of lefts and rights, throwing her around, putting incredible pressure on her body as gravity worked against her. Suddenly, the whole track twisted 180 degrees, throwing the cart upside down. Kagome's heart started beating even faster as they raced through many more turns, all upside down. She could hear some screams of delight from the people in the carts behind her, but delight was the furthest thing from her mind. She was worrying about what could and might go wrong, and imagined how it would end for her and InuYasha. Suddenly, they were righted again, and were sent down another sharp decline, toward a solid brick wall that said 'END'.

At the last second, the brakes were applied, and the cart slowed to a stop, bumping gently against the wall that Kagome had feared they would hit. InuYasha laughed, and undid the bar, jumping out. He helped Kagome out, and then noticed that his hand was bleeding. He peered closer, and wiped some of the blood off his hands, revealing four fingernail marks that were still bleeding slightly. He shrugged it off, and took Kagome's hand, leading her away, not noticing that her hand was shaking.

They rejoined up with Sango and Ayame, who were both laughing, for they could hear Kagome screaming from all the way down here. Kagome blushed when they teased her, and turned her attention to InuYasha.

"Grr! Why did I let you drag me on that damned machine!?" She yelled at him, and he held up his hands, grinning in nervousness.

"I don't know, Kagome." He replied. "Only you know why you let me drag you onto that damned machine."

Kagome, now starting to calm down, stopped yelling at InuYasha, and admitted, grudgingly, that yes, she did have a tiny bit of fun on the roller coaster.

"All right!" InuYasha said. "Wanna go again?"

_SMACK!_

"Guess not..." InuYasha said, holding the side of his face.

Sango surveyed her friends, and couldn't help but smile at their antics. She sighed, and slapped InuYasha on the back, not admitting to herself that it was her excuse to touch him.

"Good job, InuYasha." She said. "You got the uptight, safety oriented Kagome to have fun." She said, her hand lingering on his lower back for a few seconds. InuYasha, not noticing, grinned, sticking his tongue out.

"Yeah, guess she ain't so bad after all." He said.

Kagome slapped him on the shoulder. "I'm right here, you know!" InuYasha laughed, and took a few steps back, holding his hands up in front of him again.

Suddenly, Ayame grabbed InuYasha's hand.

"Come on!" She exclaimed. "I know where the awesome spinning machines are!" She said, dragging him off. Ayame had gone back to her house after they had eaten, and she had grabbed a pair of sneakers. She now ran deep into the amusement park, InuYasha tagging along behind her.

"Umm, Kagome, any idea where they dissappeared to?" Sango asked, as they walked through the park, in the general direction they had seen the pair go. Kagome shook her head. "No idea." She said, her worry evident in her voice. Sango sighed, for she knew what was bothering Kagome.

"C'mon." She said, grabbing Kagome's hand.

"Wha-where we going?" Kagome asked.

"Don't worry 'bout it!" Sango replied.

Sango led Kagome to a quieter ride, a large merry-go-round, and pulled her onboard, sitting across from her on one of the benches.

A few seconds passed in silence, with Kagome staring off to the side, watching the crowd as they swarmed around the rotating machine.

"So..?" Sango asked. Kagome looked at her, snapping out of her thoughts. "So what?" She asked.

"So what do you think?" Sango asked. A confused look passed over her face. "Think about what?" She asked again.

"About InuYasha and Ayame." Sango said. Kagome lowered her gaze to the ground.

"You noticed too, huh?" Kagome asked. Sango nodded. "Yeah, I noticed alright."

Kagome looked at Sango.

"Do you think that InuYasha likes Ayame more than just a friend?" Kagome asked.

Sango shook her head.

"Well, he is a guy, and he's known three beautiful girls since he was a child, eventually he's gonna grow to like one of them, but..." Sango trailed off, thinking. Kagome waited, knowing that Sango was well informed about this stuff.

"...But I don't think that's happened yet." She said. "Besides, It's InuYasha. When does he ever have time for a girlfriend?" She asked. "He's too busy screwing around." Kagome laughed, knowing that it was true.

"Do you think he knows?" Kagome asked.

It was Sango's turn to not catch the hidden message. "Knows what?" She asked.

Kagome blushed heavily. "D-do you think he knows that I like him?" She asked.

Sango was taken aback. She had been watching Kagome, but it hadn't appeared to her that she had any purpose for InuYasha other than scolding him out. Sango chose her next words carefully.

"Well, he probably knows somethings up, but he's too shy to ask about it, you know how he is." She said. Kagome nodded, accepting that answer. Sango immediately felt the guilt spreading in her heart, for not telling Kagome the truth.

_The truth is_, Sango thought, _I don't think InuYasha has much interest in you at all._

"Umm, InuYasha?" Ayame asked, taking a deep breath. They were in the middle of being spun around like crazy, and she wanted to ask InuYasha a question. InuYasha turned to her.

"Yeah?" He asked. Ayame looked into his golden eyes, and decided to ask him.

"InuYasha, will you please consider ma--"

"The ride's over, everybody off!!!" The ride operator yelled, as the machine slowed to a halt. InuYasha jumped out of his seat, and waited for Ayame to undo her harness. They exited the platform, and InuYasha walked over to a nearby vendor to grab something to drink.

He came back, and took her hand, making her blush.

"I'm sorry, Ayame, what did you want to ask me?" He asked, staring into her eyes. Ayame shook her head, and adverted her gaze.

"Nothing, InuYasha." She said softly. "It was nothing important, don't worry about it." She said. InuYasha, not knowing what she was going to ask, merely shrugged, and offered her a sip of his drink. She accepted it gratefully, and took a drink, thirsty from all the running around. Once again, she had failed to ask InuYasha about it, and now her courage was gone. Who knew when the next chance would come? Ayame, deep in thought, tilted the can up once more, only to have a single drop of Cola land on her pink tongue. She blushed as she realized that she had just drank all of InuYasha's Coca Cola. She apologized, bowing to him, only to have him laugh. She raised her head to look at him, and he pulled her into a hug. She gasped at his unexpected action, but hugged him back tightly, not wanting to let go.

"Ayame..." He whispered, rubbing her back. "You're one of my best friends, and I hope that you know I lov--"

"There you guys are!!"

InuYasha let go of Ayame as Sango and Kagome approached, waving. InuYasha waved back, mentally cursing his two friends for inturrupting an important moment. Ayame was standing by his side, and she waved, absentmindedly, her thoughts with what InuYasha was just going to say. She wondered what he was going to say, and she hoped that he would tell her soon. She even dared to let herself think that he was about to say that he loved her. She felt her palms go sweaty just at the thought of it.

Just then, both Sango and Kagome caught up to them, and they both gave InuYasha a hug, which he accepted with a grin.

"Didn't know I'd be missed that badly." He commented. Ayame continued to stare at him, his cut off sentence driving her insane. She had to know what he was going to tell her.

"We should head home, it's getting late." Kagome said, looking at her watch. InuYasha checked his own, and shook his head.

"Jeez you girls got a messed up sense of time." He said. "Ayame thinks ten thirty is early, when really, half the day is gone, and Kagome thinks that 7:03 is late, when it's just the beginning of the second half of the day." He said. Kagome slapped him, while Ayame half-heartedly punched his shoulder.

"We're going home, InuYasha!!" Kagome yelled, forcing the hanyou to agree.

_A few days later..._

Ayame sighed, and shut off her alarm clock, not feeling like going to school today.She pulled the covers up over her head, and squeezed her eyes closed, trying to sleep, but all she could think about was InuYasha. She hated how she couldn't stop thinking about him. At first, she thought, it was okay, she would just get butterflies whenever he smiled at her, or touched her arm. But now everything he did set her off, and her feelings for him were getting harder to hide.

"Come on Ayame, you'll be late for school!" Her mother yelled from downstairs. Ayame didn't reply, and sighed again, feeling the pain in her chest grow as she opened her eyes to stare at the picture of InuYasha that was on her nightstand. She reached out and picked it up, examining the picture. It showed them all together, the whole group, it was taken about a year ago, when they had all skipped school one day, even Kagome.

Ayame hugged the picture to her chest and closed her eyes, thinking about the boy she loved. A few minutes later, her door opened, and her mother came in, to check on her daughter.

"Why, Ayame, what's wrong?" Her mother asked, sliding the covers back. Ayame tried to hide the picture under her pillow, but her sharp mother caught the movement, and picked up the picture. She analysed the picture, and, seeing as InuYasha was the only boy in the whole picture, and her daughters weird behaviour, put two and two together.

"Ayame, is there something going on with this boy that you want to talk about?" She asked. She got no response. "Did this boy hurt you, or put you down, in any way?" She asked. Ayame felt the anger rising up in her at that question. Ayame sat up, glaring at her mother.

"You don't know InuYasha, he would never do something like that!" She yelled, grabbing the picture back, and laying back down, turning away from her mother. Ayame's mother was silent for a few seconds, before she got it. She smiled softly, and patted her daughters leg through the blankets.

"Looks like someone was bitten pretty hard by the lovebug." She teased, making her daughter growl.

"Come on, Ayame, get ready for school. I know how you feel, but you can't lay in bed all day. Just think, InuYasha will be waiting for you in school." She said, thinking that was what her daughter had called the boy. Ayame stiffened beneath the blankets, before sighing once more. She got up, and proceeded to gather her clothes, heading for the shower. Ayame's mother was left alone in the room, and she picked up the picture again, examining the boys face.

"He looks like an okay boy..." She mumbled to herself, flipping the picture over. There was nothing on the back, no words or description of the day the picture was taken, or who was in it. Ayame's mother recognised the girl with the long brown hair in a ponytail, her name was Sango, her and Ayame had been friends forever. She didn't know the blackhaired girl with the unsure expression on her face, or the boy named InuYasha.

"The boy sure can grin like a champion, though." She said, dropping the picture.

She walked out of the room and went downstairs to prepare breakfast for her daughter.

InuYasha looked up and down the hallways for Ayame, but couldn't see her anywhere. She was always early, and always sat in front of her locker, reading, until the bell rang for first period, but for some reason she wasn't here today. He groaned as said bell rang, and he cast a final look up and down the hallways, before shaking his head, and walking away, to first class.

Ayame heard the bell ring, and she ran faster, dashing throug the hallways, her locker just up ahead. She rounded the final corner, and dodged a teacher with a stack of papers, stopping in front of her locker. She groaned in defeat as InuYasha was nowhere to be found, for he always met her here, in the morning. She cursed herself for being stupid this morning, and she absentmindedly spun the dial on her lock, opening her locker. She gathered her books, and was about to shut her locker door, when a hand slammed into the locker beside her, startling her into dropping her books. She looked up into cobalt blue eyes, and felt her heat skip a beat, and her palms start to sweat.

InuYasha raced back through the deserted hallways, for everyone was in class. He didn't know what he was doing or why, but he had a feeling that maybe Ayame wasn't alright. He had missed her this morning, and he wanted to see if she was at her locker now, for maybe she was just a bit late. He ran past a classroom with an open door, and was yelled at by a teacher. He stopped, and apologized, before walking quickly down the hallway.

Ayame looked up into the mans face, and fear started to circulate through her body. She did her best to not show it though, and she glared at the man.

"What do you want, Kouga?" She asked. Kouga slid a little bit closer, glancing down the empty hallways. He placed his hand on her neck, and carressed it, sending shivers down her spine.

"Just wanted to check up on my girl, see how she's doing." He said, leaning a bit closer. Ayame felt his fingers start to tighten around her throat, but she could still breathe, so she didn't panic yet. He bared his fangs, and used his other hand to play with her breasts through her shirt.

"Remember all the games we used to play, Ayame?" He asked, tightening his fingers a tiny bit. "You got so aroused when I used to play rough with you."

Ayame glared at him, and cursed his name.

"Screw you, you damn bastard. I don't have any connection to you anymore, nor did I ever." She said, hating every part of Kouga. Kouga grinned.

"That's right, resist. Resist like you used to, it makes the end result that much sweeter." He said, sliding his hand under her shirt. She slapped his hand away, and he chuckled, grabbing her hand and squeezing her wrist harshly, making her yelp.

InuYasha waited until he had rounded the corner, before he took off running again. He had barely gotten ten feet, before he heard another shout. He stopped, and spotted another teacher coming toward him, presumably to lecture him about running in the hallways.

Kouga pressed his body against hers, and rubbed up against her. He unbuttoned her pants, sliding the zipper down. Ayame whimpered as he started to touch her, violating her. He had crushed her right wrist, and still had her by the throat, but she was afraid of striking out, fearing he might hit her really hard. Or even if he did back off, he would always come back with a vengeance, and the next time, it would be even more powerful. She felt the tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes, to run down her cheeks. She knew that it was safer to let him have his way this time, and hope that he stopped coming after her. She felt her pants being tugged down a bit, and thanked God that she had put on the tight pair of jeans, it was making it hard for Kouga to undress her with one hand.

"...Yes sir, I'm sorry sir." InuYasha said, his mind on Ayame.

"Don't let me catch you running again young man." The teacher said.

"I know sir." InuYasha said, turning around and walking away.

Ayame felt his fingers pulling at her panties, and she started crying uncontollably, for the pain in her wrist, for the fact that she was about to be raped, and for the love she felt for InuYasha, and how he would never love her back if he knew about Kouga.

"I told you we were over Kouga, why do you keep coming back?" She asked, the tears streaming down her face. Kouga reached up, and squeezed her left breast savagely, making her whimper.

"Because I can't just leave my bitch alone, and forget about her." He said, smirking. Ayame took a shuddering breath, for it was hard with his fingers so tight around her throat, and stared him straight in the eye.

"I am not your bitch, Kouga." She said. "Don't you ever call me that again!!"

Kouga laughed. "I can call you whatever I want." He said, his hand slipping inside her panties. Ayame shook her head, and started screaming for help, even as he completely cut off her air, digging his fingers into the flesh of her throat. He leaned down, and kissed her harshly, biting her lip as he did.

InuYasha rounded the corner, and saw Ayame pressed up against her locker, with a guy infront of her, holding her there, kissing her. From where InuYasha stood it looked Ayame was just getting intimate with a boyfriend nobody knew she had. He was about to turn around and go back to class when he heard her voice.

"...Please don't Kouga...hurts! Fuck off!!"

InuYasha froze as parts of her sentence reached his ears. He turned around, and saw the guy squeezing her throat, and reach down to touch between her legs.

"Oh I don't fucking think so!" InuYasha said, taking off. He ran toward the guy on silent feet, reaching his arm back as far as it would go. Just as he pulled even with the guy, InuYasha let his fist fly, and put all of his power into his punch, striking the guy in the temple. The guy was knocked down onto the floor, skidding across the linolium about 8 feet. InuYasha stood there panting, having put everything he had into his punch. When it became obvious that the guy wasn't getting back up, InuYash turned to Ayame. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks.

Ayame was crying, her sparlkly green eyes filled with fear and hate, and also relief at seeing InuYasha. Her shirt was wrinkled, and her pants were unzippered, and halfway down, revealing her white panties. InuYasha noticed the way her right shoulder was limp, and he looked at her hand, noticing the swelled wrist. He cursed, and looked again at the bastard who had done it to her. He walked over to the guy on the ground, who was starting to get up.

"You know," InuYasha said. "I'm an honourable guy, most of the time. I don't usually hit people when they're on the ground, but for bastards like you, I make an exception." InuYasha said, drawing back his foot and kicking the guy in the face. The guy yelled when he was kicked, blood spraying everywhere. For some reason, the blood excited InuYasha, and he wanted to see more. He kicked Kouga again, making blood spatter on the floor. InuYasha growled in anger, for it wasn't enough.

"If you think that's all you're gonna get, you better think again." InuYasha said. He raised his foot over Kouga's face, and hesitated, knowing that it would probably kill the guy. Instead, he picked Kouga up by the front of his shirt, and drew back his fist. An image of Ayame flashed through his mind, and InuYasha snapped.

Yelling angrily, InuYasha smashed the guy in the face as hard as he could, letting go as he did. The guy hit the ground and skidded away, coming to a rest six or seven feet away. InuYasha, breathing heavily, glared at the guy, before turning to Ayame. His knuckles hurt, and he knew that he was probably going to get expelled or suspended, but he didn't care.

Ayame watched InuYasha beat the hell out of Kouga, her body quivering in excitement as he unleashed two kicks and a punch at him. She felt her knees go weak, and she dropped, only to be caught by InuYasha as he turned to face her. He shook his head, and felt the anger swirling around inside of him. He helped her fix her pants, and shirt, then let her climb onto his shoulders again, so he could give her a ride to the nurses office.

InuYasha gently set Ayame down on the medical bed, and kneeled down beside her. He was still angry, but his anger was slowly fading to concern, as he watched his best friend lay on the bed, while the school nurse got some pills. Ayame smiled weakly at him, and whispered something.

"Wha.." InuYasha leaned a bit closer, and heard her.

"Thank you, InuYasha." She said. InuYasha shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. No way was I going to let something like that happen to you." He said. He was pushed aside by the nurse, who handed Ayame two Aspirin, for her wrist. The nurse made sure she took them, then turned to InuYasha.

"Hey, go call Ayame's parents, while I question her about what took place." The nurse said. InuYasha, hesitant to leave Ayame's side, stalled for a few seconds. He looked at Ayame, and she nodded to him, so he got up. He leaned over Ayame and kissed her on the cheek, before walking out, leaving her with a blush and a few questions to answer.

InuYasha picked up the phone and dialed Ayame's mother. He waited a few seconds, until she picked up.

"Hello?"

InuYasha took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"Hi, I'm InuYasha, a friend of Ayame's, I'm calling from the school, the nurses office, actually, to let you know that Ayame was in an...an accident." He said. He heard a gasp on the other end, then a panicked voice.

"What happened? Is she alright?"  
InuYasha tried to answer the questions. "Yes, she isn't badly injured, she's alright, but I'm afraid she was nearly...raped." He spat out the word, conjuring up images of the guy in the hallway. The anger was back, and InuYasha wished that he had stomped on the guys face.

"Oh my God..." Ayame's mother said. In her grief and worry, she didn't recognise the name as the name of the boy that Ayame was in love with. InuYasha switched hands.

"Yes, please get down here as soon as you can." He said, hanging up. He walked back into the room, and saw Ayame's face light up as soon as he came in. He walked over to her, and kneeled down beside her, suddenly feeling tired. He had just had a wickid shot of adrenaline, and now that he knew she was going to be alright, he was starting to come down off his adrenaline high. He rested his forehead on her stomach, and Ayame tentatively ran her fingers through his silver hair. InuYasha moaned as the tension in his body started to leak out, and he scooted a little closer.

A few minutes later, Ayame's mother walked in, heading straight to Ayame's side. She immediately started fussing over Ayame, making sure that she was comfortable, and wasn't hungry, thirsty, or in pain. After that, it was all business.

"Alright! Out with it! How did you get yourself into a position where you were almost raped?" Ayame's mother asked. Ayame recounted the details about how she arrived late at school, and when she went to her locker, InuYasha was gone, and almost everyone was cleared out of the hallway. She had been grabbing her books, when Kouga had shown up and surprised her, then pushed her into the locker and started touching her.

"Who is this Kouga?" Ayame's mother asked.

Ayame looked up at her concerned mother, and past her to where InuYasha sat on the nurses counter top.

"A boy I used to date a while back." She mumbled. "He never quite understood when I said it was over."

"Okay, and how did you get here?" Ayame's mother asked. Ayame giggled, despite her situation.

"Well, I was being choked by Kouga when out of nowhere, InuYasha comes flying down the hallway and punches Kouga out, then kicks him, to make sure he's down, then comes over to me and picks me up, and carries me here."

Ayame's mother turned to InuYasha.

"You helped out my daughter?" She asked. InuYasha nodded. Ayame's mother bowed.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." She said.

InuYasha shook his head.

"Nonsense. Ayame is my best friend, and I wouldn't be much of a friend if I saw that and let it continue." He said. "Ayame is a very important person to me." He said sincerely.

Ayame's mother held out her hand. InuYasha shook it.

"My name is Motoko." She said. InuYasha nodded. "InuYasha." He said. Now that she knew her daughter was safe, Motoko was finally able to think of other things. She started to remember InuYasha's face from somewhere, and a few seconds later, remembered the picture.

"Hey," She said. "Are you the one Ayame is in love with?"

Ayame, on the bed, gasped and told her mother to shut up. InuYasha, totally confused, just shrugged.

"I don't thi--"

Just then, the door was thrown open, and two armed police men entered, weapons pointed at InuYasha. The principal entered right behind them, and pointed at InuYasha.

"You're under arrest, InuYasha, for violently beating a student, giving him a concussion, breaking his jaw and smashing out three teeth, and breaking his nose."

InuYasha, his anger returning, hopped off the counter, marching up to the principal, never minding the guns pointed at him.

"Oh yeah?" InuYasha smirked. "You really think you're going to arrest me?" He asked. The principal nodded.

"I won't tolerate violence in my school." He said. InuYasha sneered, and offered his wrists.

"Oh, no violence, but I guess you let rape go, eh?" He asked, and the police officer stopped placing the cuffs on InuYasha.

"What?" The principle asked.

InuYasha pointed to Ayame on the bed.

"Yeah that's right, you ignorant fuck. This girl, my friend, was almost raped by the guy I beat down." InuYasha said.

"So go ahead and arrest me. Because if you do, I'll tell the media all about how I was wrongly arrested after protecting someone who was almost raped." InuYasha said.

"IN YOUR SCHOOL." He said loudly, daring the principal to arrest him. The principal stared at him for a moment, obviously contemplating his situation.

"Very well, InuYasha, we will let this go this time, provided you keep this sexual harrassment and attempted rape out of the paper." The principal said, nodding to Ayame's mother.

InuYasha nodded. He turned his back to the principal, and nodded to the cop to remove the cuff that was on his left wrist. The police officer did so, and InuYasha walked over to Ayame's side, dropping to his knees. He sighed, and placed his hand over hers, intertwining his fingers with hers. He had completely forgotten about Motoko asking if he was the one Ayame was in love with, and right now, he just wanted to go to sleep.

About fifteen minutes later, he was awoken by the bed moving, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. Ayame was allowed to leave the nurses office, for she had no major injuries other than her wrist, which didn't even need a cast. InuYasha, his classes forgotten, followed Ayame and Motoko home, just to make sure they got home safely. At the door, he was invited in, and he accepted, anything to spend a few extra minutes with Ayame, whom with he now felt a close personal bond.

InuYasha and Motoko helped her up the stairs, and into her bed. Motoko went downstairs to make some tea for them, leaving them alone. InuYasha sat on the edge of the bed, and yawned, now that the action was over. Ayame giggled, and patted the bed beside her.

"Come on, InuYasha, lay down, I know you're tired." She said. InuYasha shook his head.

"No, it wouldn't be appropriate." He said, fighting the urge to lay down beside her.

Ayame pouted. "Aww, come on, pleeeze?" She asked. InuYasha laughed, and nodded.

"Okay." He said. "But if I get in trouble, it's your fault." He laid down beside her, and breathed in her scent. Almost immediately, he fell asleep, his arm around his best friend. Ayame cuddled up to him, and stroked the side of his sleeping face.

"Thank you, InuYasha, for looking out for me." She said, kissing him on the cheek.

"I love you." She said softly, closing her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Even The Best Fall.

InuYasha woke up a few hours later, a loud beeping sound in his ears. He rolled over, and stopped, as he saw Ayame sitting up in bed, her back to him. He grinned, and reached his arms around her waist, pulling her backwards. She yelped in surprise, not knowing he was awake, and then she started laughing as he held on tight to her and wouldn't let go. He started tickling her, making her laugh even harder, struggling to escape his strong grasp. InuYasha pinned her down, and rolled on top of her, straddling her waist. He held both her hands over her head, and continued tickling her sides, knowing she was ticklish there.  
"Oh my god...haha! InuYasha please stop!!" She cried out, unable to take anymore of it. InuYasha stopped, and got off her, and offered her his hand. She took it, and got off the bed, shutting off the alarm that was getting annoying. Still smiling, she pointed to the time it displayed, and looked at InuYasha.

InuYasha followed her finger, and saw that it was 3:03. School was out just a few minutes ago. He had slept through the whole day. He shrugged, and straightened his shirt, opening the door for Ayame. She smiled at him, and walked through the door, wondering what they should do.

"Hey InuYasha?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"What do you want to do now?" She asked. InuYasha shrugged. "I don't know." He said. "Wanna get the gang together and go out somewhere?" He asked. Ayame was silent for a second.

_Not really..._ She thought. _I just want to be alone with you for now._ InuYasha, sensing that she didn't want to be surrounded by a bunch of people right now, put his arm around her shoulder as they walked downstairs.  
"Or," He said. "We can just hang out."

Ayame nodded. "I like that idea." She said. InuYasha smirked. "I thought you would."

Ayame glanced up at him, for he still had his arm around her shoulders.

InuYasha looked down at her, and smiled,, leading her over to her couch. He let her lay down, then asked her if she wanted any food. She blushed, and shook her head, but InuYasha dissappeared into the kitchen anyway, knowing exactly what she wanted. A few minutes later, he came back with a drink for her, knowing that she didn't like eating right after getting up. He sat down beside her, and she promptly sat up, giving him more room. She turned on the TV, and changed it to the movie channel, wondering what InuYasha wanted to watch. She asked him, and he said that he was alright with anything she wanted to watch.

They watched a movie for a few minutes, and they had started watching it a few minutes after it had started, so neither of them knew the name of the movie, but they didn't care.

Hey InuYasha?" Ayame said, timidly, hoping he wasn't too into the movie that he would be mad about being inturrupted.

He looked at her, and smiled. "Yeah?" He asked.

Ayame looked away for a second, then looked back. "Can I talk to you about what happened?" She asked. InuYasha nodded seriously, and reached over. He picked up the remote, and shut off the TV, giving his full attention to Ayame.

"Sure," He said. "You can talk to me about anything." He said, caring for his friend.

Ayame took a deep breath, and wondered where to start.

"Well, that guy that you knocked out," She said. "His name is Kouga."

InuYasha nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"He used to be my boyfriend, about two years back. Even when I was hanging with you guys, I was dating him. But I was stupid, and didn't know how to choose guys, so I fell in with the wrong crowd." She said, trailing off. InuYasha waited patiently for her to continue.

"He was abusive right from the start. He would hit me all the time, when he was angry, depressed, sad, happy, you name it. He was really screwed up. But I stayed with him, because he said that if I ever left, then he would hunt me down and kill me."

InuYasha clenched his fists, but said nothing, thinking of what he would do to this guy if he ever caught him alone.

"One day, about a year ago, I had enough. He had split my forehead open when he punched me, and I couldn't take it anymore. I told my mother I had fallen, and she took me to the hospital, but I didn't fall. Kouga had gotten pissed off because I wouldn't let him...do stuff to me, and he punched me in the face."

InuYasha moved a bit closer, and put his arms around her, hugging her to his chest. Inside, he was making a list of all the things he would say and do to the bastard when he found him.

"Anyway, ever since I left him, he would always show up every week or two, and shove me around, and try to convince me that he was right and I was wrong for leaving. He never even tried to apologize for all the times he hit me, he just assumed that he was right when he hit me, and that hitting me was the normal thing to do."

InuYasha shook his head, not believing what he was hearing.

"I'm really grateful that you came and helped me out, InuYasha." She said. InuYasha shook his head.

"I already told you not to worry about it, I care about you, and wouldn't ever stand by and let you get hurt." He said. "Jesus, if I was dating you, you would never be treated like that!"

Ayame blushed, and hoped that she got a chance to date InuYasha someday. Maybe even her dream would come true.

She got up, and InuYasha let go of her, for he had been holding onto her. She turned over, and smiled softly at him.

"Thanks for listening to me InuYasha." She said, placing her hands on his shoulders. She leaned down, and kissed him on the lips, just a quick peck, but enough to make him blush and go wide-eyed. She grinned at him, and stood up, pulling him up with her. InuYasha stared down at her beautiful face, and he put his arms around her waist, pulling her up against him.

"I-InuYasha?" She asked. InuYasha leaned down and kissed her neck.

"I tried to tell you the day we were at the amusement park," He said, his hands on her back. He inhaled her soft scent, and closed his eyes. "But we were inturrupted. I just wanted to tell you that your very important to me, my best friend, and that I'll always love you, no matter what." He said. "You mean the world to me, and I'll do everything in my power to keep you from getting hurt."

Ayame listened to his words, but she only heard the words, "I'll always love you". At first she felt ecstatic, but then she calmed down. Inside, she knew what love he was talking about. He only loved her as a friend, but that didn't hurt her any. InuYasha could never hurt her. She didn't want it all at once anyway. She figured that if she was going to have InuYasha, then she was going to work for him. She would make him love her as more than a friend someday. She felt the tears running down her face, tears of happiness, at hearing him say he loved her, tears of relief, for someone finally knew what she had been dealing with for the last two years. She finally pulled away, and smiled at him, wiping away her tears.

"I'll always love you too, InuYasha." She said. "No matter what you do."

Sango and Kagome walked up Ayame's driveway, and knocked on the door, wondering if their friend was home. Neither Ayame or InuYasha had been in school today, and they were wondering where they had been, or if they had been together. A few seconds later, the door was opened by a grinning Ayame, and she invited them in.

"Hey Ayame, how are ya?" Sango asked.

"Great, you?" Was the reply.

"Where's InuYasha?" Kagome asked nervously. "I'm scared he might have done something stupid, and gotten hurt again! Have you seen him?"

Ayame laughed. "Yeah, actually. He was with me all day, helping me with...a problem I had." She said. Sango had gotten the drift, and didn't pry further into it, but Kagome wasn't paying attention to the tone of Ayame's voice, and started questioning her.

"What sort of problem? Homework? Something with school? We coulda helped you, ya know!"

"Kagome, drop it!" Sango said, making Kagome quiet down.

Just then, InuYasha appeared at the door, and put his arm around Ayame's shoulder.

"What kinda racket are you two making?!" He yelled playfully at Sango and Kagome. Sango, apparently unbothered by InuYasha's close contact with Ayame, just grinned.

"Nice to see you too, InuYasha!" She said. Kagome pushed her way way through, and started patting him down.

"Your all right? No cuts? Bruises?" She asked, making InuYasha laugh.

"Yeah, Kagome, I'm all right, thanks for the warm welcome." he said.

She blushed, and realised that she had just touched him a few times in a very private place.

Ayame invited them in, and they sat on the couch, talking about school and what they had missed. A few minutes later, InuYasha got up, saying that he had to go home, and he got a hug from Kagome and Sango. Ayame showed him out, and she followed him out onto the steps. She stopped, and hugged InuYasha, saying goodbye.

"Hey," InuYasha said. "Always say 'see ya.'"He said. "When you say goodbye, it shows that you don't expect to see that person again."

Ayame laughed. "Okay, see ya InuYasha." She said. InuYasha grinned. "That's better." He said, starting down the walkway.

"Wait!"

InuYasha turned, and saw Ayame run down the steps and catch up to him. She stood on her tip-toes, and kissed him on the cheek.

"See ya InuYasha." She said, the wind blowing her red hair in front of her eyes. InuYasha smiled.

"See ya."

InuYasha opened his door, and checked the mail that was lying on the table. He sorted through all the bills that were in his mothers name, and picked up an interesting brochure.

"Want to have fun, and serve your country doing it?" The brochure said across the front, making InuYasha open it.

"Join the military today, and join the fight that matters. With many exciting real life missions, there's a career in the military for you!"

InuYasha smirked, and pocketed it, walking up to his room.

"I like fun." He said to himself, jumping on his bed. He opened his laptop, and went to the website that was on the front of the brochure. He surfed around for a few minutes, then closed the laptop, tossing the brochure on his desk. He got out his MP3 player, and laid back on his bed, listening to some Metallica songs.

"The military, eh...?"

InuYasha strapped on his roller blades, and made sure that they were tight, for he didn't want them moving around on his feet. Once he knew they were secure, he stood up, and pushed off toward the vert ramp that was on the other side of the concrete park. He coasted past a grind rail, and thought, why the hell not?

He jumped up on it, and started sliding down the bar. It was a short, unkinked bar about knee height, and it was relatively easy to grind. He dropped off the other end, and saw the edge of the large bowl coming up. He sped up, and jumped the edge, landing in the concave. He sped down the side, and he thought about what trick he would do on the other side. He wasn't warmed up completely, so he figured that he would take it easy for now. He felt himself tilt back as he went up the other side of the ramp, and as he came off the lip, he twisted around, doing a simple 180. He landed back in the concave, and picked up speed going down it. He didn't want to hit up the other side again though, and he turned, coasting by a few stopped bikers. He passed a skateboarder, and saw a really long, kinked rail ahead of him. He gave a few pushes with his right foot, and pulled alongside the bar, jumping up onto it. He slid down a quarter of the rail, before hitting the kinked (bent) area.

The rail was kinked downward, and he leaned forward slightly, to keep all his weight directly over his feet. If he didn't, then his feet would shoot out from underneath him, and he would fall off the rail. InuYasha grinned as he started getting a lot of speed down the rail, before he hit the straight section again. With a loud clunk, his rollerblades skidded over the bend in the rail, and InuYasha kept going. He felt himself leaning too far to the right, and he stuck out his left arm to compensate. Finally, the grind was over, and he dropped off the rail, bending his knees a bit to absorb the impact and make the landing look smoother.

He saw a huge ramp over to his left, and he started power-skating, getting enough speed to make the ramp. He saw a BMXer go off before him, and he set himself up for the right angle. He went up the ramp, and shot off it, getting a good look at what was on the other side. It wasn't another ramp to land on, like he was expecting. He flew through the air, and his heart skipped a beat. He had to land on a single rail, and grind for what looked like almost twenty feet. After that, he had to still have enough speed to gap four or five feet of empty air, _then_ land on the down ramp. He took a deep breath, and landed on the rail, crouching low to lower his center of gravity. He skidded along the rail, and he looked down, to check his pose. He was skidding down the rail facing his left, with his right leg out in front, and his left leg underneath him, slightly bent. He held the pose down the entire rail, then gathered up his strength. Right at the end, he jumped up, coming off the rail, and spinning in a circle. As he completed the 360, he concentrated on his landing. He spotted the ramp, and made sure that when he hit it, he wouldn't be leaning too far forward, or too far backward. He landed it, and bent his knees slightly, rolling away. He stopped, and looked back at the setup he had just completed. He saw another BMXer, followed closely by a skateboarder, go off the ramp. The BMXer landed on his rear right peg, and slid down the rail swiftly, with perfect balance. The skateboarder came off the ramp doing a 3 flip, and landed in a 50-50 grind, skidding down the rail with almost no wobble. They both landed successfully, but the next one wasn't so lucky. The guy came off the ramp with his skateboard, and tried to nose grind the rail, but slipped off, falling down seven feet to land on his back on the ground. A few people rushed over to see if he was okay, but InuYasha just shook his head. He wasn't laughing at the kid for failing, he wasn't a sadist, and he knew that he often did stuff he wasn't sure he could make, but the difference was, he thought, he landed all his tricks. He just hoped the kid had heart, and got up to try it again. InuYasha knew he would never quit if he failed at something, and he skated away, hitting up all the rails he could find.

"Hey!"

InuYasha turned, and saw a group of bladers standing at the edge of the skate park, and they were motioning to InuYasha. Confused, because he didn't know any of the bladers here, he skated over slowly, unsure if they were pointing at him or not. He came to a stop a few feet away from them, and they nodded at him.

"Yeah, you." One of them said. "You look pretty good. There's this one sweet rail that one of my friends found, wanna come hit it up with us?" He asked. InuYasha nodded.

"Sure, why not?" He asked. "I was getting bored with all these easy rails anyway." He said. They all laughed.

"You can be sure that you won't get bored of this one easily." The boy said. They started skating down the street, talking and laughing, introducing themselves to InuYasha and talking about the tricks they know, the ones they tried, the ones they wanted to learn. InuYasha listened to them all, and before long, they crossed the street and entered the parking lot of an industrial building.

"Hey, isn't that InuYasha?" Kagome asked, pointing at the group of skaters rolling down the street. Sango looked, and immediately spotted him for he had no helmet, or other protection, and he was the only one with waist length silver hair.

"Yeah, it is!" Sango said. "Let's go check him out!"

"Already done that." Kagome muttered. "Lots of times."

"Huh? You say something?" Sango asked, running across the street. Kagome looked around. "Huh? Nope, not me."

The group of rollerbladers stopped, and pointed to the rail. InuYasha grinned.

"You want me to grind that?" He asked. They nodded. "Yeah."

InuYasha knew that all the stunts he did were ones he had chosen, ones that he thought he at least had a chance of completing, but now that someone else was calling the shots, it was time to step up and face up to the challenge.

"Sure, I'll grind that." He said.

He rolled over to the steps, and started the long process of running up them, careful not to slip and roll down them. As he passed the second floor window, he thought about what he was about to do. He kept running, and waved at a surprised employee at the third floor window. He was getting tired, for it was hard to run up stairs in rollerblades, and he grabbed the rail he was going to grind, pulling himself up the stairs. He finally reached the top of the fire escape, and sat down to catch his breath. He was level with the top of the fourth floor, or the bottom of the fifth. He stood up, and bent down close to the rail, sighting down it, looking for anything that he had missed on the way that might interfere with his grind. He took a deep breath, and tried to control his breathing, for he knew it was a key part to grinding this successfully. He wasn't afraid of falling. He didn't care. He knew that he had the ability to grind it, so he didn't have to be afraid of falling. He knew it could happen, but he also knew he could prevent it.

He spotted the crowd far below, and saw two people running in from the street. He didn't recognise them, and figured they were just people who came to see if he could do it. He pushed off with his right foot, and immediately came to the edge of the stairs. He jumped up, and landed on the rail smoothly, immediately accelerating as he sped down the smooth hand rail. He reached speeds that he almost didn't feel safe at, outside of a car. He grinned.

Now this was fun.

Kagome skidded to a stop, and watched her beloved InuYasha jump onto the rail, and immediately start sliding down it. Beside her, Sango was grinning wildly, and cheering him on.

"Oh my God, isn't he amazing!?" Sango asked Kagome. Kagome shook her head. "No, he's an idiot!" She said, her hand on her chest, over her heart. Sango shrugged.

"I think he's sexy when he's doing stuff like this." She said. Kagome saw InuYasha shoot past the third floor window, and she prayed that he reached the ground safely.

InuYasha crouched lower, and figured he had the balance pretty much dead on. He waved to the same guy in the third floor window, and grinned. He felt himself wobble from waving, and he quickly righted himself, approaching the second floor. He never made it. His front blade rolled over the dent in the rail just fine, but his rear skate, with much more weight on it, stuck and dug into the dent, flipping InuYasha forward, and off the rail.

Kagome gasped as she saw InuYasha dive forward, and she screamed his name when she saw him start to fall from the second floor. She turned around, not wanting to see him hit the ground, and she buried her face in Sango's shirt, clutching onto her shirt, the tears already forming. Sango put her arms around Kagome as she watched InuYasha plummet toward the ground. Then she wished she wasn't around for the next part.

When InuYasha landed, his arm bent sideways at the elbow, because he landed on it. Sango knew she would remember the awful sick _thud_ of InuYasha's body hitting the ground, and the horrible snapping sound his arm made as it was broken sideways. She hesitated for half a second, then took off running toward the boy laying on the ground.

InuYasha felt his head smash into the ground, and it was just as well, because it screwed him up so much, he didn't feel the intense pain in his left arm. He saw stars as he tried to sit up, but he felt someones hands on his chest, telling him to lay down. Too confused to argue, he did, and slowly, Sango's worried face came into focus. He tried to concentrate on her, but so many things were swirling around inside his head. He saw tears in her eyes, and felt an immediate guilt surfacing inside him.

"I-I"m sorry Sango." He said, not knowing what he was saying.

"I didn't mean to make you cry." Sango shook her head, and knew that InuYasha was seriously hurt, and might have a concussion. She could hear Kagome behind her on the phone to the police, crying and trying to tell the cops what had happened.

A few minutes later, an ambulance pulled in, lights flashing, and the attendants hurriedly picked InuYasha up on a stretcher, loading him into the back of the ambulance. Sango and Kagome were picked up by InuYasha's mother, and given a ride home. Kagome, having been told by a confident ambulance attendant that InuYasha was going to be alright, thought maybe it was for the better.

"Maybe now he'll stop doing such stupid stuff." She said. Sango hummed.

"Hate to break it to ya Kagome," She said. "But I doubt a broken arm and a concussion is going to stop InuYasha."

They visited InuYasha the next day, and he was still unconscious. His arm had been put into a cast, and they had stitched and bandaged his head where it had been split open by the impact with the concrete. Kagome could only look at him for a few seconds, before she turned away. Sango held onto her, and let her cry on her shoulder. Sango didn't know how to feel, she always thought InuYasha was invincible. Well, not really invincible, but she knew that he would never do something where there was real potential to die or be paralysed. Or she thought she knew. She would know how to feel once she could talk to him, once he woke up. They stayed with him at the hospital as long as they were allowed, then went home. The next day they returned, with a new person. This time, Ayame had come along to see the boy, and all four of them, Kagome, Sango, Izayoi, and Ayame, stayed until visiting hours were over.

The next day, they all returned again, hoping against hope that InuYasha would be fine today. They stopped at his door, and heard music coming from within. At first, they thought InuYasha had another visitor, and that visitor was playing music for InuYasha. But the music had a gamey quality to it, and they could faintly hear slashing sounds and grunts, along with gunshots. They all pushed into the room, and stopped.

InuYasha was sitting up in bed, trying to play Resident Evil 4, with one hand. He was smashing away at the contoller, taunting the zombies as if they could hear him.

"Oh yeah, bitch, what now?" Another gunshot, and another zombie died.

"Yeah, can't handle these skills!!"

"INUYASHA!!"

InuYasha looked over his shoulder at the group behind him, and quickly turned back to the game.

"Ayame!"

Ayame grinned, her name being the first InuYasha said.

"Get over here and push the control stick forward, quickly!" He said. Ayame's shoulders dropped. It seemed that he didn't care to see her.

Kagome, however, marched right up to him, and slapped the controller out of his hand. Then she slapped him across the face, angrily.

"YOU MORON!" She yelled. InuYasha looked at her, a blank look on his face. "What?" He asked innocently, rubbing his cheek.

"We visited you everyday for three days, worried sick about you!" She said. "The least you could do is say hello when we walk in the door!" InuYasha, a large grin on his face, stuck out his tongue, laughing. The rest of the group moved around his bed, eager to see what Kagome did next.

InuYasha stopped laughing when he saw the tears in Kagome's eyes. He got up, and tentatively put his right arm around her, hugging her.

"I'm sorry Kagome." He said. "I really am glad to see you guys." He said. Kagome hugged him back, crying fully now.

InuYasha turned to Sango and Ayame, and hugged them both. "Thanks for coming all those times." He said. They nodded, glad that InuYasha was okay. InuYasha also hugged his mother, and told her he was sorry for making her worry.

He laid back on the bed, and immediately had Ayame on his right side, and Kagome on his left. He shrugged at Sango.

"Too slow." He said cheerfully. "You missed the good seats."

Sango grinned. "Au contraire, the best seat is still open." She said, climbing on the bed and stradding his waist. InuYasha looked up at her, and she grinned sexily down at him. She leaned down, and, right in front of InuYasha's mother, and her friends, kissed InuYasha on the mouth. She kissed him softly, closing her eyes. A few seconds later, she felt InuYasha respond, kissing her back hard. She moaned, and wrapped her arms around his neck, sliding her tongue inside his mouth. A few seconds later, the intimate kiss was over, and InuYasha grinned.

"Someone was glad to see me." He said. Sango blushed.

"Yeah, well...you know how it is." She said lamely. Ayame laughed at her poor excuse, and slapped her on the ass. "Don't hog him, he's mine!" She said. Sango yelped as she was slapped, and blushed heavily, bever being touched like that before.

Izayoi figured this was a good time to leave, and slipped out the door, thankful her son was okay.

Ayame grinned. "Whatcha gonna do Sango?" She said, taunting her.

Sango growled playfully. "Why you little...!"  
She dove off InuYasha and tackled Ayame to the floor, wrestling her, trying to pin her down. InuYasha watched them for a few seconds, before pulling Kagome a bit closer.

"I really am glad to see you, you know." He said sincerely, letting her rest her head on his chest. Kagome hummed, and closed her eyes, enjoying the nice hug she was getting.

"I know you don't show your love the way the other girls do, Kagome." He said. "While they kiss me, you yell at me." Kagome blushed, and tried to protest.

"Don't worry about it. I know that worrying about me is the way you show your love for me, and I really do appreciate it." He said. He looked down at her, and she looked up. He kissed her on the forehead.

"So just go ahead and keep on worrying about me." He said. "And I'll keep getting into trouble."

Meanwhile...

"Arg! Don't touch me there!" Sango said, slapping Ayame across the face.

Ayame seems to have switched her sexual orientation.

Ayame grinned and looked up at the girl that was on top of her. She started rubbing Sango's bum, getting a slap for her efforts. Ayame reached up, and grabbed Sango's shirt, pulling her down. Ayame's face was mere inches from Sango's.

"How long have we known each other?" Ayame asked. "Chill out, you can't be a virgin forever." She said, tilting her head up, placing her lips on Sangos' lips. Sango, not believing her friend was doing this, even as a joke, couldn't even resist. She felt Ayame's hand on the back of her head, and a few seconds later, the red ribbon she had in her hair was undone, her ponytail falling all around her shoulders. Ayame moaned, and slid her hands down Sango's back, sliding her hands around Sango's curvy bum.

Sango then realized what the hell was going on, and pulled away, staring down at her friend of so many years. She touched her lips, wondering how Ayame's kiss could be almost as good as InuYasha's.

"It's because I practised on him a lot." Ayame said, rubbing the inside of Sango's open legs. Sango looked down on her friend, and realized that she was still straddling her waist.

"Huh?" She asked.

Ayame grinned cockily.

"I'm such a nice kisser because I practised on InuYasha a lot." Ayame said. Sango realized what that meant.

"Aww, no fair!!" Sango said. "When was I told that we could now kiss InuYasha!?" Ayame grinned. "You weren't." Ayame said.

"InuYasha isn't some sort of game." Ayame said. "There isn't stages, like, you advanced to the next stage, you can now kiss him. It doesn't work that way." She said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Let it come naturally. If you want to kiss him, kiss him. If not, then don't. I've been kissing him forever, but only because I've got a strong relationship with him. You gotta earn his heart with your heart, Sango." Ayame said, sighing.

"Take Kagome for example. If she were to come right out and kiss InuYasha, the way I can, InuYasha would totally be turned off. It isn't in her character, plus, she's barely held his hand long enough to be considered more than just a friend." Ayame said. "If you still can't kiss him, and me and Kagome have moved onto bigger and better things with InuYasha, it doesn't mean you've lost him." She said. "It just means that you two might just have a stronger bond together, and you don't want to ruin it by moving too quickly. Don't always judge your progress with InuYasha based on just how much you've seen of his body, or by how deeply you can kiss him Sango, because if you do, you'll never have him the way you dream about. He'll never be yours, because you pushed too hard, thinking of him only as a race that had to be won."

Sango stared down at her friend, who turned her head to the side, avoiding Sango's gaze.

"You really do love him, don't you Ayame?" Sango asked.

Ayame looked back at her friend. "Don't we all?" She replied, making Sango laugh. "Yeah, we all do." She said.

Ayame grinned. "Enough moping." She said. "I'll be the one to take your virginity, you can count on it!" Ayame said, sitting up and grabbing at Sango. Sango yelped, and scrambled away, trying to avoid her friends groping hands.

"Help InuYasha!" She cried out, as Ayame latched on around her waist, dragging her further away from the bed. InuYasha peered over the edge, his eyes going wide as he saw Ayame's hands touching all sorts of places on Sango's body. He quickly grabbed a video recorder from his bedside, one of the many things that he had asked for while he was staying at the hospital, and started recording it, grinning as Sango's shirt was lifted.

"Oh my God, InuYasha!!!! Don't record this!! Help me!!" Sango yelled, trying to cover her chest. InuYasha lifted his cast.

"Sorry babe, I'm outta commission." He said. He laughed, the camera shaking a bit, as he saw Ayame sucking on Sango's breast, pinning her arms down, straddling her waist.

"For God sakes, this isn't funny!" Sango yelled, trying not to laugh. She was just a little aroused, just a little pleasured by Ayame's warm tongue on her nipple, and very, very embarrassed. Ayame undid Sango's pants zipper, and flipped Sango over, yanking her pants and panties down to reveal a very tight ass. Ayame grinned at the camera, before leaning down and kissing Sango's lower back, licking a trail up her back to her shoulder, kissing her throat, all the while grinding her hips against Sango's bare bum. Sango, the tears pouring down her face from laughing so hard, tried another tactic.

"I'll have so many rape suits against you, you'll lose your house, and all your furniture, and be working the rest of your life to pay me off!" She threatened, but Ayame paid her no heed.

Just then, Sango managed to free an arm, and pull her pants halfway up, before Ayame grabbed her wrist, twisting it over her head, and pinning both her hands to the floor. Ayame used her free hand to stroke Sango's soft body.

After having her fun with her backside, Ayame flipped Sango over again, her human strength no match against Ayame's demon strength. InuYasha laughed again at the expression on Sango's face, and moved off the bed, getting a close up of Sango's body. Ayame looked around, and spotted Sango's ribbon lying on the floor. She quickly grabbed it, and tied Sango's hands together, leaving both Ayame's hands free to play with Sango. Sango, her face bright red, glared at InuYasha.

"Shut that thing off right now, you bastard!" She said, struggling against the semi-tight ribbon. InuYasha shook his head. "Nope, I'm gonna keep this forever." He said. Kagome, still on the bed, shook her head at the antics of Ayame and InuYasha.

Ayame pulled Sango's pants down further, and Sango tried desperately to keep her legs closed. But she lost that battle too. Ayame forced her legs apart, and leaned down, licking her. Sango nearly passed out when she felt Ayame's tongue between her legs, but figured she needed to stay conscious, or they really would have their way with her. Ayame reached up, and started massaging Sango's breasts. Sango squeezed her eyes closed, and tried to fight the feelings running through her body.

'I know it feels good, but why can't it be InuYasha doing this to me?' She asked herself, wondering just how far Ayame would go. She wouldn't actually mind if Ayame took her virginity, she would just rather she did it a bit less obviously, maybe in a room, just the two of them. Not in a hospital room where anyone could walk in and see them, and especially not with InuYasha recording it. She felt Ayame rubbing her between her legs, and she started breathing heavily. She stopped resisting her, for she was too tired.

"Ahh, finally, you stop fighting me." Ayame said, letting go of Sango's leg. Sango didn't bother to close her legs, instead, she opened them further, allowing Ayame greater access to her private parts. Ayame licked her finger, and slowly inserted it into Sango's vagina, slowly moving her finger in and out. InuYasha laughed, and got a close up of it. Ayame, after a few minutes of this, bent down, and started to lick her, thrusting her tongue into Sango. InuYasha set the camera down on the floor, facing the action, and walked over the Sango on the floor. He kneeled down, and kissed her on the mouth, playing with her erect nipples. That did it. With a loud moan, Sango orgasmed, making Ayame giggle as she licked up the juices that flowed forth from between her legs. Ayame continued licking her for a few minutes, slowly bringing down her arousal, until Sango was spent, lying on the floor, slightly sweaty. InuYasha shut off the camera, and waved it in front of Sango's face, grinning. She half-heartedly raised her hand, and stuck up her middle finger.

"How was it, Sango?" Ayame asked, kissing her on the forehead.

"It was awesome." Sango said, pulling her pants back up. InuYasha handed her her shirt back, and she pulled that on too. "Jesus, I came here to see InuYasha, and I end up getting raped and taped." Sango said, shaking her head. Ayame laughed.

"That's just me, making everyday interesting." Ayame said, helping her friend up. They sat on the bed, and Ayame put her arm around Sango's shoulders. Sango buried her face in her hands.

"I can't believe InuYasha saw all that...and videotaped it!" She moaned. Ayame giggled. "That just means there's more happy memories!" She said. Sango shook her head.

"He saw everything!" She said. "That was so embarrassing!" Ayame chuckled.

"Well, you looked like you were having fun while it was going on." She said. "Wanna do it again?" Sango shook her head. "No!"

Ayame shurgged. "Eh, it was worth a try."

Sango turned to face her friend. "Stay still." She said. Ayame nodded. "Okay."

_WHAM!!!!_ "OUCH!!"

Ayame clutched her cheek where Sango had slapped her. "Okay!" Sango said. "I feel a hell of a lot better now!"  
InuYasha laughed, and slipped the tape into his pocket.

Sango, strangely, felt way better than she did before though. She whispered her question in Ayame's ear.

_"Why do I feel so good now?" _She asked.

Ayame put her mouth by Sango's ear.

_"Sex is an awesome stress reliever, and believe me, you were pretty stressed out, worrying over InuYasha, and if you would be blamed for his accident, because you cheered him on."_

Sango nodded. "Oh." She said.

"Yeah. Anyway," Ayame said. "I have to go, I got to make supper at home." She said. "My moms waiting for me." She said. She jumped off the bed, and hugged InuYasha on the way out. She paused at the door, then waved to Sango.

_Call me._ She mouthed, then dissappeared when Sango gave her the finger.

InuYasha grinned. "Well, if this is what happens when I get laid up in the hospital," He said. "I hope I get hurt a hell of a lot more." Kagome gasped.

"InuYasha! Don't say that!"

InuYasha laughed. "Relax, I won't get hurt again!" He said.

Sango sat down beside him.

"Umm, InuYasha?" She said. He looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Do you blame me?" She asked.

"For what?" He asked, confused. "What would I blame you for?"

"For cheering you on, and not pleading with you to stop doing these stunts."

InuYasha laughed, and pulled her into a hug.

"No, I don't blame you, Sango." He said. "I don't blame anyone for the things I do, or the way I turned out." He said. "You only blame people when things go wrong. As far as I'm concerned, I turned out just great, and I've got the three best friends in the world." He smirked, and slid his arm around her waist. "I'm always going to need someone to cheer me on, Sango." He said. "I hope that you'll stay with me, and cheer me on forever." He said. Sango nodded.

"Yeah, I think I will." She said.


	4. Cast is off, Kitsune is here

Living For Today.

InuYasha picked up the pamphlet and looked through it again, checking out the careers offered in the military. He glanced down the page, until he seen something he liked. He grinned. Now _that_ looked fun. He grabbed his cell phone off his dresser, and dialed the number on the page. The phone rang twice, before it was picked up. A female voice answered on the other end of the line.

InuYasha closed his cell phone, and opened it again, accessing his calendar. He quickly typed in a date, and closed it again. He rolled off the bed, happy that he was getting rid of his cast today. He grabbed his wallet off his dresser, and walked downstairs, happy to get rid of the bulky thing. His arm felt a lot better, and he smiled as he thought about today. He got to hang with his friends again, and he would have the use of both his arms. He left the house and walked the few minutes over to Ayame's house, and knocked on her door. He waited, and looked around, never really noticing how her front windows had tiny semi-circular flower beds under them, with dark moist earth contrasting sharply with the surrounding bright green grass. He shifted his weight to his other leg, and was about to walk away, when Ayame opened the door. She looked out at him sleepily, making InuYasha laugh.

"Huh?" She looked at him, wondering why he was laughing. InuYasha grinned, his laughing under control, and walked in as she moved aside.

"Your hair is kinda messy Ayame." He said, laughingly. She shrugged, and grabbed a comb off the coffee table that was in her living room. She ran it through her hair a few times, straightening it out, getting all the stray hairs. She sat down on the couch and InuYasha sat down also, careful of his left arm. He leaned back against the arm of the couch and Ayame moaned. She closed her eyes and leaned back against InuYasha's chest. He grinned.

"So how ya been?" He asked. She shrugged sleepily.

"Ain't been doing a whole lot, just waiting for you to get better so we can hang out again." She said. InuYasha nodded.

"Yeah, the damn cast comes off today." He said. "So what are your plans for today?" He asked.

Ayame shrugged again. "Follow you around, feel you up, laugh at the stupid stuff you do, you know, the usual. Hang out." She said. "You know that all of us, Me, Sango and Kagome build our lives around yours, we live for the few hours we get to spend with you." InuYasha smirked. "Yeah, I love hanging with you guys too." He said.

"Well, I guess you guys are coming back to that industrial building, then." He said. Ayame made a questioning noise in her throat.

"You know, that industrial building that I fell and broke my arm at." He said. "I'm going back there to re-grind that rail."

Ayame laughed when she heard this. "InuYasha, I really don't know if your stupid, or just driven." She said. InuYasha shrugged gently.

"Maybe it's a bit of both." He said. Ayame nodded. "Yeah, I think it is."

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Ayame sighed.

"COME IN!" She yelled, making InuYasha wince. Who knew that this tiny, soft spoken girl could yell so loud?

Sango and Kagome walked in, and they both tried not to react when they saw InuYasha cuddling on the couch with Ayame. Sango sat down on the opposite couch with Kagome, and they stared at the pair across from them. Ayame yawned, stretched, and got off InuYasha. walking into the kitchen.

"Anybody want anything?" She asked. Kagome shook her head, Sango jokingly rattled off a list of foods that were obtainable from your nearest McDonalds, and InuYasha just asked if she had any pop.

"So, InuYasha, how are you today?" Kagome asked, and InuYasha yawned. He sat up, and grinned at her.

"I'm fine, I get my cast off today, and I get to re-try that rail!" He said excitedly. Kagome gasped, glared at him.

"InuYasha, are you retarded!?" She asked. "Do you not remember what it was like to break your arm and smash your head against the concrete?" InuYasha nodded. "Yeah, I remember perfectly well." He said. "But it's my body, and if I wanna go do that again, then I'm gonna go do it again." He said. Kagome sighed.

"Okay, well, if that doesn't deterr you, then think about this." She said. "Think about how I'm gonna feel watching you go off that damn rail again!" She said. InuYasha actually thought about it for a second. "Think about how we are all going to feel, watching you do that again."

InuYasha was subdued. It was okay to place himself in harms way because it was only himself suffering, and it was a choice he made. But when it came to stuff like this, where his friends could suffer emotionally, it made him re-think his plan. He wasn't that selfish that he would toss away his friends thoughts and feelings just for a personal gain.

"Okay, okay, you got me, I won't do it again." He said. 'But I will do it someday, when you aren't around.' He thought.

Kagome, glad she settled it, smiled at Ayame as she walked in, holding two drinks. She gave InuYasha his Cola, and took a sip of her chocolate milk. As InuYasha raised his glass of Cola to his mouth, he caught a glance at his watch. He would have to be at the hospital in twenty minutes. He stood up. "Well guys, are you coming with?" He asked. Sango and Kagome cast blank looks at him.

"Where are you going?" They both asked. InuYasha bared his fangs in a deadly grin. "To get my cast cut off."

They jumped up. "Yeah, let's go!" They said, and all three girls followed him out of the house, Ayame locking the doors.

At the hospital, they all had to wait in the waiting room while InuYasha went in alone to get his cast removed.

Ayame, Sango, and Kagome were waiting for about ten minutes, before InuYasha came back out, sporting the use of both his arms. His face wore a grin that could be likened to the fox that had just been set loose inside the chicken coop. He was now ready to commence his retarded stunts. Ayame grinned, and felt her old feelings come back as InuYasha shot her a confident smile.

"Let's get out of here guys!" He said, happy to get rid of his cast. He now had tons of energy, and no way to release it...until he saw the brick wall in front of him. He started to jog toward it, calling out over his shoulder, "Stupid stunt number one!"

Ayame laughed, Sango felt her stomach twinge, and Kagome sucked in a deep breath, ready to yell at him. InuYasha jumped up, with Kagome's scream in his ears, and placed his foot on the wall. He leaned back, and kicked off the wall, backflipping off it. He landed, bending his knees to absorb the impact, and yelled triumphantly. It wasn't the backflip that had excited him, those were easy and he had been doing them forever, but it was the realization that, after a week and a half having the use of only one arm, he was now free.

"Hey, that was pretty cool, can you do another one?"

Everyone looked over to the person who had spoken, and they saw a girl walking toward them. The three girls each were on guard, but none more so than Ayame. Ayame started growling softly, flexing her claws. InuYasha regarded the girl like he would any other, with polite respect, but no interest.

The girl in question was a bit taller than Ayame, and sported a pair of cut off jeans that showed a lot of leg and thigh. The jean shorts were unzipped, and showed a bit of a thong underneath. The girl had a tight white shirt on, with the words 'This shirt looks better wet' on it. It covered a very large chest, but not much else. Her long blonde hair hung down to her hips, which weren't covered by the short shorts, and her eyes were a golden color like InuYasha's, except darker. Atop her head were a pair of fox ears, and everyone could see that she was a kitsune. She moved lithely over to InuYasha, and put her arm around his shoulder.

"Well, can you do it again?" She asked, her voice purring. InuYasha pointedly removed her arm from his shoulder, and she immediately looked insulted. He grinned. "Can't do it if your holding on to me babe." He said smoothly. He backed up, and took a run at the wall, jumping into it and getting three steps up the wall before backflipping off. Sango didn't know he could do that, and was immediately interested. She wanted to learn how to do that. Then maybe her and InuYasha could go tricking together sometime. The kitsune smiled at his antics, and took his hand, dragging him a few feet away from the girls.

Sango, Ayame, and Kagome all watched, wishing they could hear what was being said. They wondered if InuYasha would didtch them for the beautiful girl, and while they didn't think he would, it was always a possibility. The conversation was taking a while and they were getting wary, watching InuYasha shake his head repeatedly. Ayame gasped, and pointed, and everyone looked to see what she was pointing at.

The girl was giving InuYasha her number. They watched InuYasha pocket it, without looking at it, and wave to her politely as she walked away. He then turned and walked back to the group, stopping short when he saw them all staring at him.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"Who was that girl?" Sango asked, trying to keep the jealousy out of her voice. InuYasha shrugged.

"I don't know, she said her name was Kasumi." He said. "She said that she liked my trick, and..." He trailed off.

"And?" Kagome demanded. InuYasha looked at them and grinned. "Well, the next part is a bit slutty, but she said that it must take a great body to do that kind of stuff, and she said she wanted to see it, then gave me her number." He said.

Ayame gaped. "A bit slutty? Try a whole lot slutty. Giving her number out to a stranger, and saying that she wanted to see his body!" She scoffed, and shook her head.

"Does this happen often to you, InuYasha?" Sango asked. InuYasha shrugged again, and they suspected that this was becoming his favorite gesture. "This is about the third time this month." He mumbled. He kept his eyes on the ground, and Kagome laughed.

"Don't worry InuYasha, it's nothing to be ashamed of, it just means that girls are interested in you, after all, your pretty hot." She said. Everyone looked at her, and she blushed. "W-well, he could be considered hot from some girls point of view." She said, trying to cover her mistake. Sango opened her mouth to question her, but Kagome quickly cut her off.

"The point is," She rushed, "Unless your actually calling these numbers up, and meeting these people, then you have nothing to be ashamed of." She said. InuYasha grinned. "No, don't worry, I haven't been meeting any of them." He said. "Whether they be guy or girl." He muttered under his breath.

Sango was the only one to catch that, but she said nothing. She merely grinned. "So at least you know that girls find you interesting." Sango said. "That has to be a big boost to your self-esteem." She said. They all started walking again, and InuYasha nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you could put it that way." He said. "But I'm not going to stop tricking just because random horny girls keep giving me their numbers." He said. Sango laughed. "Way to go InuYasha!" She said. "Fight off the hordes of horny female teenagers hungering for your sexy body!"

InuYasha blushed. "It's not that bad." He said. "There aren't _that_ many girls after me."

Ayame stuck her tongue out at him. "Stop acting like a player, InuYasha, it doesn't suit you."

InuYasha pretended to be hurt. "Aww, you mean I can't dress up in the baggy blue jeans and wear red jerseys, and pure black Playboy hats, and sharp necklaces?" Ayame took a second to imagine that, and had to forcefully close her mouth, lest the drool start coming out.

"Well, no one here would object to that," She said slyly, "But we'd all sure as hell beat you down if you started whoring girls." InuYasha dismisssed that thought.

"No way, dibs out, that's not my idea of fun, whoring out girls for cash." He said. "Not my taste."

A few seconds went by in silence.

"Unless..."

Everyone looked at him, for he was wearing a sly grin. "Unless what?" They all asked. He glanced around at all of them.

"Unless you three were my girls that I'd whore out!" He said, dancing away from their slaps and punches.

After a while, they reached the ice cream store, located inside a convenience store, and InuYasha pulled them all inside, insisting that he buy them something, as a celebration for him getting his cast off.

Kagome didn't want anything, but InuYasha pushed until she accepted a bottle of pop, and Ayame immediately pointed to cookie dough. He laughed, got it for her, and recieved a hug as thanks. Sango, more conservative, asked for, and recieved, plain vanilla. She loved plain vanilla. InuYasha got a pure chocolate cone, and they all sat outside, eating their cones and contemplating whatever it was that three teenage girls contemplated whenever in the presence of someone as hot and kind as InuYasha.

Sango often thought of what could be between her and InuYasha, if she was willing to take a risk and ask him out. She wanted to so bad, but was always afraid of him rejecting her, no matter how nicely he would do it. Then things would never be the same after that again. And she was quite happy with the relationship she had with him right now, thanks very much. She wasn't about to ruin something this good. She sighed, and cast a look at InuYasha. He was a messy eater, and the ice cream had melted a bit when he went to take a lick, and had run down his chin, and down his neck a bit. She groaned inwardly. What she wouldn't give to lick that off...

Kagome was lost in her own thoughts, and didn't realize when InuYasha slowly worked the bottle out of her hand, to take a drink, then slowly replace it. She absent-mindedly went to take a drink of her Dr. Pepper, and gasped as she realized that it was half gone. Did she really drink that much? She heard a giggle and looked over to see InuYasha wipe a bit of pop off his upper lip. She glared at him, then had to wonder how he had gotten the bottle in the first place. Was she that zoned out?

Ayame stared at the hanyou, and wondered what he was like underneath that black shirt of his. She imagined him in her room, door locked, slowly taking off that shirt of his. She started imagining other things, and started zoning out.

"...Ayame? Ayame!!!" Ayame was shaken out of her stupor, and she licked non-chalantly at her cookie dough ice cream.

"What was that about, Ayame?" Kagome asked, worriedly. "You went all glassy-eyed and started sweating a bit." She said. "You feeling okay?" Ayame blushed, and turned away from them to hide her embarrassment.

"Y-yeah, everythings fine, it's all good, no worries!" She said. She waited until her blush had faded before turning around again. The group had dismissed her, and were talking about something else. Ayame realized that she had hit the bottom. She officially couldn't stop day dreaming about InuYasha. She sighed. She wished that she could control her thoughts, but she couldn't. They would just randomly pop up, and she would start fantasizing about him. Not that she minded, and she would often think about him until she fell asleep at night, but she wished her day dreaming would pick a better time to attack. She finally snapped out of her reverie to realize that InuYasha was holding a hand out to her, to help her up. She accepted his hand, and he gently helped her stand, before he started to walk away. And he hadn't let go of her hand. She blushed as she held his hand the whole time they were walking back to where ever they were going, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sango eyed the two holding hands, and became a bit jealous. First it was the fox-girl, then it was Ayame. Why wasn't InuYasha paying attention to her? She then realized what she was thinking, and discarded the thoughts like they were diseased. They most likely were. Infecting her with jealous thoughts, and making her dislike her best friend. Sango knew she should be happy for Ayame, and InuYasha. Her two best friends had found happiness, and who cares if the guy she wanted found happiness with her best friend, and her best friend got the guy she always wanted?

Then Sango scoffed. It wasn't like they were going out or anything, they were just holding hands. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was turning out to be more than just holding hands. Maybe those two had something more than they were letting on. They did spend a lot of time together. Alone. Sango then shook her head again. Ayame was her best friend, and if anything like that was going on, she would be the first to know. Besides, InuYasha wasn't the type to keep secrets like that from his friends. If Ayame didn't tell them, InuYasha would. Sango knew that she would just have to earn the love that he was showing Ayame. It was probably because they spent so much time together that he would hold hands with her in public like that. She remembered back to what Ayame had said. She had earned her affection from InuYasha. Sango knew exactly what she would do. Being naturally athletic, and in good shape, she would appeal to his much more energetic side. She would go tricking with him. That would build the bonds necessary to make him hers,

Kagome cast a glance at Sango, and was about to ask her a question, when she saw that Sango was deep in thought. Maybe this wasn't the best time. She kept her question to herself, and pondered the meaning of InuYasha and Ayame holding hands.

They stopped off at InuYasha's house, where he told them that he was going to stay for the rest of the night. He was tired. They all accepted this, and Ayame hugged him tightly, before letting go and smiling at him. The other two stood around awkwardly, for a second, before InuYasha sighed loudly.

"Do I need to invite you?" He asked, his arms open wide. The girls grinned. He most certainly did not! They pushed their way up the steps, to hug him tightly. He laughed, and waved them off as he said good night. It was just barely starting to get dark, and he had some work to finish up before he went to bed.

"G'night InuYasha!" Kagome called. InuYasha grinned. "Good night!" He waved at them once more, before disappearing into his house, locking the door. No one was home. Perfect.

He ran up the stairs to his room, and shut the door, emptying out his pockets. He dumped the piece of paper with the girls number on it onto the bed, next to his cell phone, and jumped in bed, picking up his cell. He opened it, and started dialing...


	5. InuYasha's Parkour Run

Living For Today Chapter 5.

InuYasha threw his cell phone down, and sighed. The girl on the other end of the line was very helpful. He was going to see her tomorrow. He grinned. He couldn't wait. He got up, and saw that the sun was about to set. Oh well, he could still go tricking. He walked out of his room, after grabbing a change of clothes. He walked into the bathroom, and quickly changed into a pair of loose fitting cargo pants, pure white, with the word 'Parkour' written up the legs in black, and slipped on a sleeveless white T-shirt, with the Parkour logo on it. He quickly combed his hair, and swept it back, putting it in a loose ponytail. There were a few strands that weren't long enough to be tied back, and he shrugged, letting them hang down in front of his face. It was a bit feminine, but he didn't care. Then he recalled that he had been dressed exactly like this when that guy had given him his number. InuYasha shivered at the memory, and jogged out of the bathroom, flicking off the light. He jumped the whole set of stairs, and pushed off the wall, sliding to a stop in front of the door, his socks sliding over the clean linoleum. He swiftly slipped on his shoes, and tied them up tight, running out the door. His mother was just getting back from somewhere, and he jumped over the hood of the car as she pulled up the driveway, honking at him. He waved back at her, and continued running, tearing down the sidewalk, working on his breathing.

He ran for about fifteen minutes, then stopped, downtown. He loved this place, it was crowded. He started warming up, stretching all his muscles, concentrating most on his arms and legs, but making sure to get his back and torso, ankles and wrists. He glanced around, and, unaware that he was being watched, swung his arms backward, then forward, jumping up and leaning backward. He backflipped, and landed it. His breathing was even, and his movements controlled. Smoothly, for flowing from one move to another was almost as crucial as the move itself. He leaned down, and without any hesitation or jerky movements, smoothly placed his hands down and kicked off with his feet, popping up into a handstand. He waited half a second, to be sure that his balance was perfect, before swinging his left arm out, sticking it straight out. Carefully, to work the whole range of muscles in his arm, he unlocked his elbow, and slowly let himself down, doing a one handed upside down pushup. He pushed back up, and felt himself starting to sweat. He did a few more, and then stopped, holding himself up with his right arm. Once he got the balance on, he slowly dropped his legs, leaning to the left, while swinging them down and to the right. Once he was about to touch the ground, he swung his legs around to the left, helped by the weight he had placed on his left side by leaning in that direction, and transferred the falling legs' energy into sideways motion, sweeping perfectly into a Windmill, a breakdancing move. He did a few revolutions of that, before dropping his legs, letting the toes of his shoes scrape against the pavement. As he was about to come to a complete stop, he brought his feet under him, and pushed up, leaning back, bringing himself into a backflip. He landed on his hands, and pushed off, flipping back onto his feet. By now, he was drawing a small crowd, but he didn't notice them. He was too focused on his warmup routine. He ran forward a few steps, landing hard on his left leg, bringing his right leg kicking toward the sky with all the force he had, jumping up a bit, pushing with his left leg. He tucked, grabbing his knees with his hands, and completed the backflip, while running forward. He landed the backflip, and ran out of it, not wanting to stop or ruin the flow of his moves. He transferred his forward energy into another move, planting his left leg, turning sideways, using his momentum to flip sideways. In his mind, he imagined himself doing a cartwheel, without the hands. He completed the arial, and and landed it, now facing the opposite way. He ran forward, and got ready for his final move. He jumped up slightly, and landed, planting his left leg, stopping all his forward momentum. For now. He leaned down, and swiped his body across, transferring all his forward momentum into sideways energy. As he brought his upper body up, he kicked off with his left leg, and the way he transferred his energy made him rotate sidways, completely horizontal. He spotted his landing, and landed on his left leg, completing his butterfly twist.

For the first time, he noticed the people. They were all around him, and were staring at him. He ignored them. He looked around, and saw a good way out...

He ran forward, and hopped up on a dumpster, that was against the wall of a store, just at the opening of an alley way. From there, he gathered his strength in his legs, and jumped into the wall, planting his foot and pushing off, turning in the air as he did so. The alley way was small, only a metre and a half across, and he quickly covered the distance, grabbing the roof ledge of the store beside the one he had just kicked off of. He pulled himself up, and was now on top of the store. He couldn't stay here long though, it was a three hundred dollar fine for being caught on top of roofs.

_Shit! I'm going to lose him! _The person thought, pushing through the crowd. The person stopped when they saw InuYasha reappear on the roof top, about twelve feet above their heads. The person quickly melted back into the crowd, watching him with hungry eyes.

InuYasha ran toward the edge, and jumped off, leaning back. He rotated a lot slower than he would for a normal backflip, but he had to compensate for the drop. He didn't want to over-rotate and land on his face. He completed the flip and saw the ground rushing up. He slammed into it, and dropped his shoulder, rolling over it and down across his back. From his left shoulder to the right side of his lower back. He pushed off the ground and kept running, breaking through the crowd. He was heading to his favorite Parkour spot, and he didn't want too many people cluttering it up.

The person chased after him, clad in a pair of grey sweat pants, and a grey T-shirt. The persons athletic legs powered them down the street, and the person was careful to match their foot steps with InuYasha's, so he didn't hear.

InuYasha saw a bike rack stretched across most of the sidewalk, and there was no way he was going around it. He remembered what he had been told. If you have an obstacle in your way, and you have to slow down to get around it, or you have to find a different route, then your moves weren't good enough, and you needed to practise more.

InuYasha dipped his shoulders, leaned forward, and kicked off with his feet, a full metre and a half from the bike rack. He stretched out horizontally, and grabbed the bike rack bars with his hands, bringing his legs underneath him, through his arms, to land safely on the other side. He kept running, and saw a square concrete garbage can in the middle of the sidewalk. It was about chest high, so he had a different move planned.

He approached at top speed, and threw himself into the air, a good two meters from the object. With his momentum, he would quickly traverse the distance, so there was no problem. As he jumped, he dipped his right shoulder down, and felt himself turning. He passed over the garbage can, and placed his right hand on it, pushing off, his legs flying over the garbage can on his left side. He cleared the can, and brought his legs under him, landing a perfect speed vault.

The person chasing him didn't know what he was doing, or what the moves were called, but they studied InuYasha's moves, and imitated them, almost perfectly. The person put on an extra burst of speed, not caring if they were noticed by InuYasha anymore, and was now trailing just a few feet behind InuYasha.

InuYasha knew that someone was following him, but the wind was against him, so he didn't know who it was. He wasn't going to look backward, he was too focused on everything in front of him. He saw an alley way coming up, and he cut a sharp right, ducking down it. He used his momentum, knowing that he wasn't going to make the right turn into the narrow alley at his speed, and jumped up, placing his feet on the brick wall. Normally, he would have had to slow down and turn, but with this move, he kept all his forward momentum, and transferred it sideways.

He took three steps on the wall before his forward momentum ran out, now fully turned into forward momentun, but at a different direction. He jumped off the wall and kept running at top speed, vaulting various objects in his way, never slowing down, and never going around his objects. He would either go under them, under them, or straight through them.

The pursuer kept pace, having struggled a bit with the unexpected turn, and the wall run. They caught up to InuYasha again, and was reaching out, about to touch his back, when InuYasha jumped, clearing the back end of a car that was backing out of a garage, into the alleyway. The car stopped, the driver seeing InuYasha go flying over the top of his car in his rearview.

The pursuer now had a clear, non-moving obstacle. They jumped up, and placed their left hand on the trunk, and their right hand on the car window, bringing their legs through their arms to land on the other side of the car that was blocking the alley way.

InuYasha saw the end of the alley approaching, a dead end. A brick wall. He ran straight for it, and once he reached it, he jumped into it, placing his feet on the wall. He pushed down, and momentum launched him upward. The wall was about ten feet high, and he was sure he could reach the top.

InuYasha took his third step up the wall, and leaned forward, grabbing the top. He pulled himself over the edge, and dropped down the other side, hitting the pavement and rolling. A few seconds later, he heard the sound of someone who didn't weigh that much hit the ground behind him, then a split second later, footsteps.

InuYasha sped down the alley, jumping and vaulting a few more obstacles, before cutting left, now back on the main street. He knew where he was. He ran a few feet before cutting across a street with the "walk" icon still flashing. He jumped the sidewalk, and ran through the grass, now in a public park. He heard feet slapping the ground behind him, then silence as they reached the grass. InuYasha slowed to a jog, then approached an empty bench that was facing away from him. He jumped forward, turning to his right. He placed his left hand on the back of the bench, and was now heading over his obstacle backwards.

Momentum fixed everything, and he was facing forward again before long. As he completed his turn vault, he dropped down smoothly into a sitting position, his breathing just a bit more heavy than usual.

A few seconds later, someone placed their hands on the back of the bench next to him, and pushed themselves up into a handstand, balancing on the edge for a second, before tipping forward. They pushed off with their hands, and flipped forward, landing on the bench in a sitting postion, hands folded in their lap.

There was only the sound of heavy breathing for a few seconds, before the person spoke.

"You fucking hard to catch, you know that, right?"

InuYasha turned to the person, now knowing who it was, by the sound of their voice.

"Glad you could keep up, Sango."

A/N Please review, tell me what you think.


	6. Lime

Living For Today, Chapter 6.

InuYasha woke up, and remembered that today was the day. He thought of the girl he had called last night, right before he went on his Free Running tricking spree. He was supposed to meet that girl today. He grinned. It was going to be awesome.

He got out of bed, and grabbed a set of clothes from his closet, before dissappearing into the shower.

Sango groaned, and stretched her sore body. She yawned, and rotated her shoulders a few times, working out the kinks. Following InuYasha last night was hard work, and she was paying for it now. She got up, and went into the shower, intent on taking a long hot shower.

InuYasha stepped out of the shower, and quickly grabbed a towel off the counter, scrubbing at his wet hair, until it was damp. He then proceeded to dry off the rest of his body, before slipping on a pair of grey boxers, socks, and then his favorite pair of dark green camouflaged cargo pants. Then he pulled on a black muscle shirt. He flipped his long silver hair out, and picked up a brush, running it through his hair a few times. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror, and grinned, before continuing out of the bathroom. He jumped the set of stairs, and pushed off the wall that came up to meet him abruptly, dashing into the kitchen. He walked over to the cupboard and opened it, getting the cereal down. He grabbed a bowl and poured some cereal into it, leaving the box on the counter. He quickly slid over to the fridge, and yanked it open. He grabbed the milk, and dumped some into his cereal, grabbing a spoon.

After he was done eating, he slipped on his shoes, and tied them up, running out the door. He jumped the three steps, and ran down the driveway, cutting across the empty street. He cut through the nearby park, and slowed to a jog, looking for the coffee shop the girl had mentioned. He spotted it, and slowed to a walk, sauntering over and slipping in the doors, glancing around to make sure that nobody he knew was nearby. He walked up to the counter, and ordered one of the random things on the menu, before retreating to the back of the shop, finding a booth with no windows. He didn't want to get caught.

Sango jumped out of the shower, and heard her doorbell ringing incessantly.

"I'M COMING!" She hollered, struggling to slide into her tight jeans. The doorbell rang again, and this time the person held the button down. Sango sighed, and threw her pants down the stairs, running down the stairs after them.

She walked over to the door and opened it a crack.

"Hello?" She asked.

Ayame pushed her way inside.

"Hey San-! Hey, nice outfit!" She said, winking at Sango. Sango, dressed in her bra and panties, blushed, and hurriedly retrieved her pants. As she bent over to pick up her jeans, she felt Ayame's hands on her ass, groping her.

She straightened up, and turned around, pointing a finger at Ayame.

"Don't do that!" She yelled, and suddenly, Ayame got _that_ look in her eyes.

"Oh, Sango!" She called, slowly moving forward, and Sango didn't like the tone of her voice.

"Ayame, stop!" Sango cried, holding her hands out in front of her, taking a step back.

"Ayame, no! Don't!"

Ayame grinned, and grabbed Sango's arms, forcing her back against the wall. "Don't struggle, Sango, your only delaying the inevitable." Ayame said, raising Sango's arms above her head. Sango blushed, and knew that Ayame was probably going to go through with it. She had flashbacks to her brief stay in the hospital, and shivered as she felt Ayame's lips on her neck.

"A-Ayame..." She tried to stop the girl, but her arms were held against the wall by Ayame's demon strength, and she was too confused to think of anything else.

"You like that?" Ayame asked, nipping Sango on the neck.

Sango couldn't help but nod. "Yeah.." She said.

Ayame smirked, and changed her grip on Sango's arms, so she could hold her with one hand. She slid the other hand down to her waist, and slid her hand behind her, groping her ass.

"Oh..."

Ayame couldn't help but kiss Sango then, and kissed her softly. Sango closed her eyes, no longer attempting to sort through the feelings she had, and try to figure out why Ayame was even doing this.

"A-Ayame..." Sango could barely speak, she was so lost in the pleasure that was rolling through her.

"Yeah?" Ayame asked, pushing her body up against Sango's.

Sango blushed as Ayame's breasts came into contact with her lightly clothed breasts, and moaned slightly as Ayame placed her hand on her breast, fondling her.

"Keep going.." She pleaded softly, when Ayame stopped, teasing her.

Ayame hesitated a second, before continuing, slipping a leg between Sango's legs, spreading her legs apart slightly.

Sango tried to grind her hips on Ayame's leg, but Ayame wouldn't let her. She pulled her leg back slightly, out of her reach, before releasing her breast. Sango whimpered at the loss of contact and pleasure, but was quickly pleased many times over when Ayame's hand slipped down between her legs.

Sango moaned loudly, and opened her lust filled eyes to stare at Ayame.

"Why do you do this to me?" She asked softly.

Ayame shrugged, pressing her hand lightly against Sango, touching her through her panties.

"Because it makes you feel good." She said. Sango nodded, and felt a light sweat slowly forming on her body.

"Oh, does it ever.." She replied, and Ayame snickered.

"Just take the pleasure as long as you can, Sango, because I'm going to see how long I can drag it out." She said. She gently twisted Sango around so she was facing the wall, before kissing her on the neck, before placing a few kisses on her left shoulder.

She slid her free hand down her back, trailing a finger lightly down her spine, making her shiver, before slowly massaging Sango's firm ass.

"You like that?" She asked softy.

Sango, her face turned to the left as she was pressed lightly against the wall, nodded.

"Oh yeah."

Ayame smirked.

"What about this?" She asked, sliding her hand all way down Sango's ass and between her legs, rubbing her vagina.

Sango gasped, and a ripple of pleasure ran through her body, and she involuntarily cried out Ayame's name.

Ayame laughed softly.

"That's right, call my name." She said. She put her mouth by Sango's ear. "I'll always be here to take care of you, no matter what kind of help you need." She whispered, the tone of her voice hinting at things sexual.

"I don't know, your doing a fine job of helping me out right now." Sango said.

Ayame purred lightly.

"Did you ever want again what had happened in the hospital?" She asked.

Sango blushed, and swallowed.

"I've thought about it." She said, evasively.

"Did you ever want it?"

Sango couldn't stop herself. She nodded.

Ayame purred again.

"Well, come upstairs, and we can work on that." She said, slipping her free arm around Sango's neck, and letting go of her arms. Sango brought her hands to the arm that was loosely around her neck, and intertwined her fingers in the hands of the girl behind her.

"Let's go, Sango." She said, before pushing her gently toward the stairs, Sango's jeans all but forgotten.

InuYasha was only waiting five minutes, before the girl arrived. She waved at him, and walked down the aisle toward him, hips swaying, tight jeans showing off her figure. Her black shirt was plain, with no markings on it. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a pony tail, and her bright blue eyes shimmered in the artificial light of the coffee shop. She slipped into the seat across from him, and took his hand, shaking it.

"Hi, InuYasha!" She said, smiling charmingly at him.

InuYasha smiled back, fully intent on making his best impression. After all, if he was going to get what he wanted from her, he had to put in the effort.

They talked about themselves for a few minutes, getting to know each other, and InuYasha couldn't help but think that he was going to score. This girl seemed to like him, and everything about him, so it looked like it was time to head to her place and get it done.

InuYasha offered her coffee, but she declined, saying that she couldn't drink coffee before she did it, it would make her hands shaky.

InuYasha smiled at that, and knew that he wouldn't want her to have shaky hands. That wouldn't be good.

"Alright, you wanna head over to my place?" She asked, standing up.

InuYasha nodded, and dropped some money on the table.

They walked outside, and InuYasha was surprised to see that she had driven here. He shrugged. Oh well. At least that meant the place they were going to do it was far away, and there was a smaller chance that Ayame, Sango, or Kagome would catch him.

With his mind full of the fun things that they would be doing over there, he got into the car, and waited for her to start it. She did, and drove away, carrying InuYasha away from his friends, and into the apartment where the fun would begin.


	7. Taking Off

Living For Today Chapter 7.

InuYasha walked in the girls front door, and sat down on the couch. She smiled at him, and sat down beside him.

"So, your sure about this?" She asked. InuYasha nodded.

"Yeah, completely sure, I'll have no regrets, nobody will care." He said. The girl nodded.

"Okay." She said. She pulled a briefcase off the table, and opened it, setting it on her lap. She withdrew a pen and a bunch of papers. InuYasha took the offered pen, and quickly skimmed over the first page of the paper, before going straight to the back. He signed his name, and piled the rest of the papers together, handing them back to her. She smiled wryly at his behaviour, not even taking time to read the papers that were going to change his life.

"You know that you could have taken that home with you to read, you know that right?" She said. InuYasha shrugged. "I don't care what it says, I just want some action." He said. The girl smiled again, this time a bit sadly, and shook her head.

"It's a shame that young people like you are throwing your lives away at such an age." She said.

InuYasha smiled dangerously. "I don't think I'd be throwing my life away." He said.

The girl looked at him.

"More of that patriotic, 'ready to die for my country' talk?" She asked. "I get that all the time from you young recruits."

InuYasha snorted.

"Hardly." He said. "I could care less if the country blew up tomorrow, as long as I have fun while it's happening." He said. "And that's all I'm doing this for. For fun."

The girl smiled again, and again, it was a sad smile.

"Your not fighting for anyone, no one you love?"

InuYasha shook his head. "Well, besides the fun, there's three people that I'll be fighting for, but I don't really consider it fighting for them, because I doubt if the war will ever reach them at home." He said.

The girl shook her head. "You'd be surprised."

InuYasha looked at her questioningly for a second, but she shook her head. "Forget it." She said.

"So, I'm required to ask you one more time, are you sure you want to do this?" She asked.

InuYasha nodded. "Yes."

She smiled one last time.

"Welcome to the unit, InuYasha." She said.

InuYasha walked down the sidewalk, the bag he had received slung over his shoulder. He kept his head down, thinking of what it was going to be like telling his mother and his friends, when two of his friends' voices reached his ears.

"InuYasha!"

"InuYashaaaa!"

InuYasha stopped, and looked up, seeing Sango and Ayame running toward him. He set his bag down, and opened his arms as they crashed into him, hugging him.

Where were you, InuYasha?" Sango asked.

Ayame nodded, catching her breath.

"Yeah, we were sitting on your steps all day, waiting for you." She said.

InuYasha smiled wryly. "Sorry guys, I was busy." He said.

Sango looked down and saw the bag. She saw the camouflaged pattern on it, and pointed to it.

"InuYasha, what's that?" She asked.

InuYasha picked up the bag.

"Aww, this? This is nothing." He said. Quick as lightning, Ayame grabbed it out of his hands, and opened it, turning around so he couldn't grab it back, going through it.

"InuYasha." She said, her voice going flat. "What is this?" She asked, turning around and holding up the top to a military uniform. InuYasha shrugged.

"Nothing."  
Ayame stared at him.

"Did you sign up for the military, InuYasha?" She asked. InuYasha sighed. He couldn't keep the truth from them any longer.

"Yeah, I signed up as part of a six man unit designed to infiltrate enemy fortresses, and stuff like that." He said.

Ayame dropped the shirt and the bag. "So your going to war?" She asked softly.

InuYasha nodded. "Yeah, I am." He said.

Ayame shook her head.

"You can't." She whispered. Her large green eyes filled with tears. "You can't!" She said. She looked up at him, tears running down her race.

"What about my dream, InuYasha?" She asked him. Without waiting for an answer, she turned around, running off in the direction of her house. InuYasha stared after her, hoping that he hadn't hurt her, yet knowing that he had.

Sango glanced at him.

"Why'd you have to go and do that, InuYasha?" She asked. "We were all happy with you here. We don't want you to leave." She said, before dismissing him, and taking off after Ayame.

InuYasha watched her go, until she rounded a corner and was out of sight. He sighed, and picked up his shirt, stuffing it into his bag. He slung it over his shoulder again, and walked up his driveway, noticing that his mothers car was gone. She wasn't home yet. He shrugged, and opened the door, disappearing into the house.

Sango caught up to Ayame, and grabbed her hand, pulling the crying girl to a stop. Ayame turned, and hugged Sango, crying harder now. Sango ignored the looks she was getting from people walking by on the streets, and rubbed Ayame's back, whispering softly in her ear.

A few minutes later, Ayame had calmed down enough to start walking, and Sango led Ayame to her house. As they climbed Ayame's steps, Sango realized that she might have to stay the night here, to make sure that Ayame was okay. It was fine with her, but she might need to call her mother later.

Sango waited until Ayame unlocked the door, before gently pushing Ayame inside, and leading her up to her room. Ayame sat down on the bed, and Sango sat down beside her, her arm around her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" She asked, and Ayame shook her head, wiping away a tear.

"I really love him, and now he's going away to war." She said. Sango shushed her gently and rubbed her back.

"We all love him, Ayame." She said. "We all have to deal with him making this choice together." She said. "Why don't you call Kagome and tell her what happened?" She asked.

Ayame nodded, and forced the tears to stop. She got up, and walked to the bathroom, blowing her nose. She spent a few minutes in there and when she came out, she looked a lot better. She had washed her face and was done crying.

Sango handed her the phone, and Ayame swiftly dialed the number, before raising the phone to her ear. She waited a few seconds until the phone was answered, then asked for Kagome. A few seconds later, Kagome's cheerful voice answered the phone.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hey." Ayame said softly.

Kagome immediately sensed that something was wrong.

"Ayame, what's going on? You don't sound like your usual self." She said. Then her voice became sterner. "Did InuYasha do something? If he did I'll kick his--"  
She was cut off by Ayame giggling, despite what had happened.

"Yeah, it was InuYasha, but he didn't do anything directly to me, or Sango, and it wasn't one of his usual stupid stunts, although it was stupid..." She trailed off.

Kagome sighed.

"What did he do now?" She asked.

Ayame felt the tears coming back just thinking of it, but she held them back.

"He joined the military."

Ayame heard Kagome's gasp over the phone, then a loud banging. Ayame held the phone away from her for a second, before bringing it back to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked. Kagome's voice was heard a few seconds later.

"I-I'm sorry Ayame, I dropped the phone." She said. "What do you mean he joined the military?" She asked.

Ayame shrugged. "I don't know." She said, feeling the tears running down her face. "He just came home and we met him outside his house, and he had an army bag with him, and when I went through it it had a military uniform in it, and thats when he said that he had joined the military."

Kagome sighed, and sat down on her bed, cursing the stupidity of InuYasha.

"Why would he go and do this?" She asked.

"I don't know..." Ayame said sadly. Sango moved a bit closer to Ayame. Ayame leaned her head on Sango's shoulder, and Sango put her arms around Ayame.

"Doesn't he like us anymore?" She said softly, speaking neither to Sango or Kagome. It was just as well, because neither of them had an answer to that, for neither of them knew if he had even liked them to start with.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, Sango hugging Ayame, while Ayame listened to and took comfort in the sound of Kagome's breathing over the phone. After a few minutes, Ayame's mind was made up.

"Okay, I'm going to see him." She said. "You should come over to his house too Kagome, that's where I'm going. Otherwise, I'll talk to ya later." She said, hanging up.

She stood, and wiped the tears off her face, before taking Sango's hand, and smiling at her.

"Friends might get mad at each other and not talk to each other for a week over something like this, but we're his real friends, so we should be with him every second of the day, until he leaves."

Sango nodded in agreement, and they left, heading over to InuYasha's.

InuYasha threw his bag onto his bed, and started going through it. He pulled out his uniform, and laid it out on his bed, then reached into the bag again. His hand closed against a thin metal bar, and his eyes widened as he pulled out an assault rifle, with no magasine. He was holding it by the barrel. He grinned, and set it down on his bed, next to his uniform. He reached in, and pulled out a set of blank dog-tags. Those too went next to his clothes, and he emptied out the bag, staring through all the small items that came with it. One of which was a cell phone. He picked it up, and opened it.

_1 New Message!_

InuYasha accessed it, and started reading.

_Welcome to the unit. Although the enrolement was a bit different from what you were expecting, you have signed the paper, so now you are property of the government and the unit leader to be used as they see fit. Familiarize yourself with your weapon, then, anywhere from an hour after recieving your bag, to six hours from when this text was opened, this phone will be called. Once it is answered, you will recieve instructions, and you must follow them, for now you are a soldier. _

InuYasha looked at the phone, turning it over in his hands. This was actually happening a lot faster than he thought it would, and it was starting to become unbelievable. The fitness test he had went through, he remembered, was rigorous, but not beyond him, and he had passed it easily. Now, apparently, from the time he had put his name to paper, he was a soldier. He sighed, then grinned. From here on out, it was all about how much fun he could have. Of course, he would also have to strictly follow orders, or he'd get his ass kicked, but that was beside the point. He slipped the phone into his pocket, and packed all his stuff up, realizing that he might be called out before he could even tell his mom goodbye.

He sat on the bed for a minute, thinking about it, before shrugging. "It would suck, sure, but I can't stay home forever." He told himself. "Besides, I'll have time to come visit..."

Even as he said it, it sounded like a lie, and he knew it was one. He knew what he had signed up for from that booklet, and now he was going to go through with it.

He stood as he heard knocking on his door, and he ran downstairs, skidding at the bottom of the stairs. He ran to the front door, and skidded to a stop in front of it, placing his hand on the door handle. He shook his head, fixing his ruffled hair, then opened the door.

"Hello?"

"InuYasha!" Kagome yelled, stomping into the house, grabbing his shoulders and slamming him back against the wall. "Why didn't you tell us about something like this?" She asked angrily. "You could have at least talked it over with us!" She said. InuYasha, stunned and surprised, looked down at her. "Tell you about what?"

"About joining some Army thing!" She said, not knowing nor caring enough to use the right term.

InuYasha's eyes widened. "Ahh, I'm sorry Kagome, I totally forgot." He said. Kagome stopped pressing him against the wall, and she slowly lowered her arms to her sides, staring at him disbelievingly. "You...forgot...to tell your friends about something like going away to war?" She asked softly. "If I didn't know better, InuYasha, I'd say you really don't care about me, Ayame, or Sango." She said. InuYasha's heartbeat increased, and he shook his head. "No, Kagome, you know it isn't like that." He said. "I love all of you guys, and I'd never do anything to intentionally hurt you, you have to believe me." He said. "It's just, I..."

Sango and Ayame stepped through the doorway, the former staring impassionately at him, the latter, on the edge of tears.

"It's just what, InuYasha?" Sango asked, herself wondering how InuYasha could keep something like this from them. "How long have you planned out this little stunt?"  
"I just...didn't know how to tell you guys in a way that wouldn't hurt you." He said softly. Then he looked up at Sango. "And this isn't a stunt, and I haven't planned it very long." He said. "I decided the other night that I'd go check it out."

Sango moved to InuYasha's side, and pressed him against the wall, her head on his shoulders. "You know, if you wanted to find a way to tell us without hurting us this much, all you had to do was call us or visit us, and tell us." She said. "It just hurts more this way, thinking that you didn't trust us enough to tell us you were thinking about something like this." She said. "I guess we caught you before you had a chance to ditch us, eh?"

InuYasha felt a sharp pain in his heart at her words, and once more he shook his head. He put his arms around Sango as her tears soaked through his T-shirt.

"It's not like that, Sango, and you know it." He said. "I didn't know how you would take it, and I didn't want to bring you all down." He said. "I see now that my way was wrong, and it would have been better to talk to you all about it, but I can't change it now." He said. "I'm committed." He said. "I don't know what I was thinking when I kept it from you, but believe me, I didn't want to hurt you."

Sango started crying harder, losing her self-control, and InuYasha bowed his head, ashamed that he had reduced Sango to tears, along with Ayame. He hugged Sango tightly, kissing the top of her head.

"Come on guys, I don't know when I'll have to leave, but it could be in as little as half an hour, so let's go hang in my room for a little while." He said. "We'll just hang and talk, no stupid stunts, nothing to distract my attention from you three." He said. "Please talk to me, tell me everything. I know it isn't much, but I want to do something to repay you for what I've done." He said. "I know it probably seemed I was more interested in doing guy stuff and acting stupid than paying attention to you guys, and I've realized it now, evne though it's a bit too late." He said. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to spend the last bit of time I have left with you guys, and no one else."

They all nodded, and followed him up the stairs. He opened his door, and cleared everything off his bed, laying down on it. He took Kagome on his right side, and Ayame on his left, and Sango once again laid on top of him, staring at his beautiful face, wondering why he was doing this.

Kagome leaned against him, her head on his shoulder, and didn't say anything, alone in her thoughts. Sango was still staring at him, thinking back to the day when she had awoken him in this very room, jumped on his bed and ripped his covers off, kissed his stomach, asked him again how old he was. She remembered how sexy he looked just waking up, his messy hair all over his face, his chest muscles rippling as he raised his arm to block out the light. Hell, even his response was hot, how he moaned just a bit, then answered in his sleepy voice how old he was.

Ayame, though, had finally broken down into tears again, and was cuddled up as close as she could get her body to his, her face in the crook of his neck, dampening his T-shirt with her tears, her silent sobs wracking her body, as he put his arm around her, trying to comfort her.

Kagome was the first to speak.

"Since the first day we met, I felt an attraction to you like no other." She said. "I felt like you could do anything, and you had the strength of a thousand men, and could protect yourself and me from anyone and anything." She said. She was silent for a second while she gathered her thoughts, then spoke again. "In fact, I think that's what scared me about you." She said. "You never needed my help, never needed me to tell you to be careful, or to not get hurt, because you never would." She said. "It scared me that you might not need me to tell you to be careful, and that you could continue to be fine without me. Since I'm such a worry wort, worrying and nay-saying was the only way I could show I cared, but you didn't even need it, and it felt like I was useless to you." She said. At this, she started to cry, and fell silent.

InuYasha hugged her a bit tighter, and kissed her cheek.

"Babe, you helped tremendously." He said. "Without you, I wouldn't have that lingering thought in the back of my head telling me to be careful during my stunt, so that I live and have someone to come back to, to show that I'm fine, and it was all because you told me to be careful." He said. "It wasn't that I didn't need you, it was just that you did your job so well it appeared like it was all me, but lots of times I would find myself doing something dangerous, and your memory would tell me to be careful, and I would spot something I hadn't before, or I would take an extra careful step, or jump, and at the end of the day, when I come home fine, it's 'cause of you." He said. "You might think of it as nagging, or being a worry-wort, but I know it was genuine concern, and for that I'm grateful." He said.

Kagome slowly ceased her tears, and smiled at InuYasha. "Thanks." She whispered.

Sango was the next to speak.

"I think I'm the most conservative out of us all, but that doesn't mean I don't care." She said. "I always liked you, and hearing that you want to join the army or something was a huge shock, and I'm still shocked, so I probably can't show much emotion, but deep down I know I'm badly hurt, and I probably won't be able to express how I feel until tonight or tomorrow, when you're gone." She said. "I know it'll be too late, but right now, I just have no way to express how I feel." She said. She ignored the tears threatening to leak out of the corners of her eyes, and InuYasha said nothing, knowing she wanted to appear strong.

"Sango, I know you don't know how to feel right now, angry, sad, scared, but I just want you to know, what was and is important to me is tricking, and having fun, and the way you pushed me onward, encouraged me to do my best and just go for it, that was the sweetest thing you ever could have done for me, and I appreciate it so much." InuYasha said. "Without you, half of my stunts wouldn't have been done, and to me, that would have been a real shame, because looking back, they were so fun, and they were all because of you pushing me on." He said. He reached out, and touched Sango's cheek. She looked up at him, and met his gaze.

"Thank you Sango." He said softly, and Sango felt her tears sliding down her cheek.

Ayame was the last to speak, after she had regained control of her tears.

"I always tried to act like I didn't care, like I was above you, especially in the beginning." She said. "Regarding your stunts, I always tried to think that you were just a boy doing what boys do, messing around and doing stupid stuff." She said. "It didn't actually interest me at first, but once I saw how _alive_ you were when you were doing them, I realized that there was a whole other side to you that nobody knew much about, and I wanted to find out more, but it looks like I won't get the chance." She said. "After a while, I realized that I was starting to like you, though I mainly tried to act indifferent to these feelings. Then, holding your hand, kissing you, getting a piggy back ride from you, even, every time I touched you it felt like my body was on fire, and I realized that I was attracted to you so much, and that's when I realized I was in love with you." She said. "I love you, InuYasha."

InuYasha's eyes widened, and for a second, he felt his heart ache. He smiled at her, and leaned down, kissing her on the lips. "I love you too, Ayame." He said. "You mean the world to me, and I'm sorry that I'm about to trade my world away for a small bit of fun." He said. "Now, I'm really starting to regret it, but I can't change it now, it's something that I have-and want- to do, and nothing will change it." He said.

They had all said what they had wanted to say, and there was nothing left to say, so they all fell silent, thinking. Eventually thinking turned to sleeping, and they all drifted off to sleep, wanting to share just one more special moment with InuYasha before he left.

A loud ringing woke InuYasha up, and he realized his cell phone was ringing. He cursed, and reached into his pocket, grabbing it and flipping it open.

"Hnn, hello?" He asked.

"Mobilize at the airport in half an hour, be there. A plane will be leaving shortly, you will be introduced and briefed on the plane." A voice said, before hanging up. Inuyasha stared at the phone, before throwing it onto the bedside dresser. Sango had been awoken by the ringing, and yawned, waking Kagome and Ayame as she did so, by shaking their shoulders.

"Get up guys, I think InuYasha has to leave." She said.

Ayame and Kagome got up, rubbing their eyes.

"How long were we sleeping?" Ayame asked, yawning. InuYasha glanced at the cell phone on the counter, and shrugged. "About an hour and a half." He said. "Best hour and a half I've ever spent with you guys, I think." He said. "Even though we were sleeping most of it, at least I was with you guys and not doing something else." He said.

He got up, and straightened his clothes.

"I guess this is goodbye, then." He said, hating to be so abrupt, but not knowing how to delay it any longer.

Kagome coughed, and hugged him, holding back tears. Sango and Ayame joined in, and InuYasha hugged them for a good five minutes, realizing that deep down, he really didn't want to leave.

"It's okay though, it's not like I'm gone forever." He said. As Sango pulled away, he leaned in and whispered, "Take care of Ayame and Kagome for me when I'm gone, eh?"

Sango nodded, and wondered if there was more than one meaning behind the word 'gone.'

InuYasha grabbed his bag, and walked over to his bedroom door.

"I'm supposed to head to the airport, then we're taking off from there." He said. "I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'll come back to say hi to you guys." He said. He glanced at his watch. "Would you guys tell it to my mom for me?" He asked.

They nodded, and were too frozen to walk him to the door. They knew that if they watched him get ready to leave, they would forcefully grab him, and beg him not to leave, and they knew that as much as they wanted him to stay, he wanted to go. And they had to respect that.

InuYasha waved a final time, then dissappeared, running down the stairs. A few seconds later, the front door slammed, and the InuYasha they had known for so long was now gone from their lives.

Sango, unable to believe it, fell onto InuYasha's bed.

"Hey Ayame, did you ever get to tell him your dream?" She asked.

Ayame sobbed, and shook her head. "No, I never got to tell him that I wanted to marry him when we got older." She said. "I hope he comes back soon...I'll tell him the next time I see him, it might convince him to stay." She said.

Kagome said nothing, and wondered if there would be a next time.

"Whatever guys, I'm going home." She said, depressed. "I'm tired, and I want to sleep for about ten hours." She said.

Sango and Ayame said their goodbyes to her, and she left, her mind on InuYasha.

Sango made sure Ayame was okay, then took off, saying she had to get home soon.

Ayame stayed, and looked around InuYasha's room. He had left so suddenly, he didn't have time to do anything with his room. She looked on the far side of his bed, the side away from the room, and saw the shirt he had been wearing earlier on the floor. She picked it up, and sniffed it, her sharp demon senses immediately picking up his scent. It brought back a flood of memories, and once more the tears flooded her eyes, and she let herself fall back onto his bed, clutching his shirt, as she tried to cry herself to sleep.

Sango sat down on her bed, and sighed. Now, the surrealism was starting to wear off, leaving only cruel reality. InuYasha was gone, and they didn't know when they'd next see him. She reached over and picked up a picture of InuYasha off her dresser. She looked at it, and smiled sadly at what she saw. It depicted InuYasha and Sango standing in front of their school, Sango with her books in her hand, InuYasha grinning beside her, with his arm around her shoulders, his other hand up by his stomach, giving a thumbs-up. Sango remembered that day, remembered how they had hung out that day, and just spent time together with each other, not doing much of anything.

_"Will you be at this school long?" She asked, taking his chocolate milk from him and taking a sip. InuYasha shrugged. "Probably until I'm done school, then since this is my last year I'll be done, but I'll still be living around here." He said. "This place seems kinda fun, so yeah, I think I'll stick around for a long time." He said._

_Sango nodded. "That's good." She said._

Sango wiped some teardrops off the picture, then realized that InuYasha had lied to her. Less than six months later, he was gone, leaving her alone. Sango stood up, feeling anger course through her body.

"You fucking liar!" She yelled, throwing the picture at the wall opposite her. She didn't see it smash against the wall, for the tears in her eyes blurred her vision, but she could hear it. She dropped onto her bed, and laid on her stomach, telling herself that she didn't care about the picture. The tears came freely now, and her pillow became damp, but she didn't bother turning it over, she merely cried herself to sleep.

Ayame sighed, and felt her heart ache as she thought of InuYasha, who had been sleeping with them only an hour before. Now he was gone, and Sango and Kagome hadn't the heart to stay behind and tell his mother. Ayame knew she would have to, as unpleasant as it would be. She snuggled deeper into InuYasha's blankets, and clutched his shirt to her chest, wondering how she could bear the pain of knowing she wouldn't see InuYasha for a very long time. Trying to get her mind off the realization that he was gone, she looked at the shirt she was holding. It was a pure white one, with black stencilling on it. It had 'Billabong' across it, and small spatters of what appeared to be paint that was used to make the graffiti-looking letters. She remembered what InuYasha looked like in the shirt. It was quite tight on him, and revealed the excellent condition that his body was in.

Ayame thought once more what her dream was, and how InuYasha had so innocently crushed it, without even knowing it. If only she had told him earlier, this might not have happened, but it was a bit too late for that now...

Ayame was snapped out of her thoughts as the front door opened, and she heard InuYasha's mothers voice calling out.

"Hey, InuYasha, I'm home!"

Ayame's heart skipped a beat, and she got out of InuYasha's bed, still holding his shirt. It was up to her now to tell her about InuYasha leaving, since the others didn't stay.

She walked downstairs, and said hello to InuYasha's mother.

"Hello dear." She said, quite familiar with Ayame. "Where's InuYasha? I picked up that new CD he wanted on my way home from work." She said. "I bet he'll be glad to get it."

Ayame bit her lip. "Um, there's something InuYasha wanted me to tell you..."

A/N: Well, ending there. Took forever to update, but I finally got settled down and got this typed out. Next chapter should be out soon, but no promises. Please review, tell me what you think.


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